Ysios and Kurma Life Science Partners lead €29.2 millions investment in AM-Pharma
This operation is one of the largest in the European biomedicine sector so far this year.
BY BIOCAT
AM-Pharma BV, a bio-pharmaceutical company based in Bunnik (Netherlands) that focuses on pre-clinical and clinical development of the alkaline phosphatase protein to treat severe inflammatory diseases, has announced the closing of their fourth round of funding with a total of €29.2 millions.
Ysios Capital Partners has led this round in conjunction with Kurma Life Science Partners. The union of new investors also includes the corporate funds of two global pharmaceutical companies —Abbott and Shire— and two European venture capital funds —BBBiotech Ventures and Idinvest Partners. Other participants in this round of funding include existing financial partners Forbion Capital Partners and Inventages Venture Capital (the Nestlé corporate fund).
These new funds will be used to drive the development of a new alkaline phosphatase to treat acute renal failure through completion of Phase II clinical results. Acute renal failure is a critical pathology, which seriously compromises kidney function, resulting from a severe systemic inflammatory response (sepsis), surgery or exposure to contrast media. There is currently no effective treatment for this condition, which causes 700,000 deaths each year.
According to Ysios, the potential market for an effective treatment is estimated at €1,500 millions per year. The alkaline phosphatase protein plays a very important role in inflammatory processes, and a variant developed previously by AM-Pharma has shown signs of significant efficacy in Phase II clinical studies carried out on patients with sepsis, acute renal failure, ulcerative colitis. The new variant of the protein developed by AM-Pharma is designed to foster the stability and activity of human alkaline phosphatase and will undergo exhaustive clinical studies with a wider patient sample.
Joël Jean-Mairet of Ysios, Rémi Droller of Kurma Life Science Partners and Klaus Breiner of BBBiotech Ventures will join the Board of Administrators alongside current members Bart Bergstein, David Brister, Eric Claasen and Ashok Dhanrajgir.
"We are happy to have played a key role in this round of funding alongside benchmark investors from the United States and Europe,” explained Joël Jean-Mairet, who also clarified that "the fact that the corporate funds of two global pharmaceutical companies have joined the shareholders reinforces the importance and potential of these innovative new treatments."