A total of $31 million in private equity has now been conveyed to the company for the purpose of bringing small molecule product candidates into clinical trials.
Following the final stage of financing Scott Salka, CEO of Ambit said: “We anticipate that our small molecule neuroprotectant for the treatment of stroke and other CNS disorders will enter the clinic in 2006, followed closely by the first of our small molecule kinase inhibitors for the treatment of cancer.”
The series C funding was led by Roche Venture and included participation from all of Ambit’s existing investors including Perseus-Soros Biopharmaceutical Fund, Forward Ventures, GIMV, Avalon Ventures and various individual investors.
New investors Canadian Medical Discoveries Fund and Genechem also joined the round. Additionally, Roche entered into a collaboration with Ambit concurrent with the initial close of the round in 2004 for access to Ambit’s proprietary kinase profiling technology. Ambit has also secured drug discovery collaborations with Bristol-Myers Squibb Company, GlaxoSmithKline and Pfizer.
“Ambit is an attractive investment for Roche because their promising preclinical compounds and clear clinical development pathway provide a solid basis for creating value,” said Carole Nuechterlein, head of the Roche Venture Fund.