Healthcare Industry News: OP-1
News Release - October 3, 2006
Aisling Capital Joins I. Wistar Morris III and Intersouth Partners as a Lead Investor in Cempra Pharmaceuticals
Cempra Pharmaceuticals Closes Series A Investment Round at $22 MillionRESEARCH TRIANGLE PARK, N.C.--(HSMN NewsFeed)--Anti-infective biotechnology company Cempra Pharmaceuticals announced today that it has added Aisling Capital as an investor, bringing its Series A financing to a close at $22 million.
Aisling Capital joins investment banker I. Wistar Morris III and venture capital firm Intersouth Partners as the third lead investor in the Series A round. The company will use this first institutional financing to continue developing current compounds and expanding its product portfolio, as well as growing the company's management team. Dr. Andrew Schiff of Aisling Capital will join Dr. Garheng Kong and Wistar Morris on the company's Board of Directors.
Cempra was founded in January 2006 by a team with experience in discovering and developing anti-infectives and is supported by a world-class Scientific Advisory Board and advisors comprised of renowned industry experts. The company is focused on developing improved antibiotics for the increasingly significant problem of antibiotic-resistant bacteria. The increasingly frequency and aggressiveness seen with bacterial drug resistance continues to challenge physicians and patients as the use of antibiotics expands. Cempra's first program addresses the need for a new generation of advanced macrolides that will address this issue of resistance while providing better safety and efficacy.
Andrew Schiff of Aisling Capital said, "We are very aware of the great need for new antibacterial agents to meet the rising need for treating infections caused by drug resistant bacteria. Cempra has a team experienced in developing antibiotics and we are excited about investing in this team and the products."
"We are very pleased to have an experienced and well known venture capital firm like Aisling Capital join us as lead investors," said Garheng Kong of Intersouth Partners.
Wistar Morris added, "We are pleased to have strong venture capital firms join us in financing Cempra to develop these much needed new antibiotics."
"It is now our turn to work hard and develop the exciting portfolio of antibiotics that we have acquired for Cempra," said Dr. Prabhavathi Fernandes, President & CEO of Cempra Pharmaceuticals.
About Cempra Pharmaceuticals Inc.
Cempra Pharmaceuticals, Inc. is a biotechnology company founded to capture near-term value from market opportunities in antibiotics to meet urgent and continuing needs to treat drug-resistant bacteria in the hospital and community. The strategy is based on the pharmaceutical and biotechnology industry experience of Cempra's founders and advisors in the areas of drug development and anti-infectives. Cempra's approach is to balance near-term product development opportunities including the macrolide CEM-101 (OP-1068), (For more information, visit www.cempra.com), while investing in future products from new technologies to derive the next generation macrolides as well as other classes of antibiotics.
Source: Cempra Pharmaceuticals
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