ProtAffin secures $18.4m in equity financing

Austrian biotechnology company ProtAffin has completed a $18.4m series B financing round. The equity financing was co-led by Atlas Venture and SR One, the corporate venture fund of GlaxoSmithKline.

Existing investors Aescap Venture, Entrepreneurs Fund and Z-Cube also participated in the series B financing. Regina Hodits of Atlas Venture and Deborah Harland of SR One will join ProtAffin’s supervisory board.

The funds from the series B financing will be used to complete the pre-clinical development and Phase I testing of ProtAffin’s lead anti-inflammatory product PA401, a modified form of the human chemokine IL-8/CXCL8 which has shown anti-inflammatory activity in both chronic and acute preclinical models. A patent covering PA401 was granted in 2009 in the EU.

The company also plans to nominate further pipeline programs for formal pre-clinical development in the future and to broaden application of its CellJammer discovery platform in the field of oncology.

Jason Slingsby, CEO of ProtAffin, said: We are delighted to have secured a substantial series B equity financing with a world-class syndicate of venture capital investors in testing times in the financial markets. Atlas and SR One will significantly broaden the investor base of ProtAffin and strengthen our network across Europe and the US.

We also appreciate the strong on-going support of Aescap, Entrepreneurs Fund and Z-Cube. This financing positions ProtAffin to become a significant biologics company in the EU, with a leading focus in development of biopharmaceutical products targeting glycans in pathological settings.