Healthcare Industry News:   T cells 

Biopharmaceuticals Venture Capital

 News Release - June 7, 2010

Cytheris Closes 12 Million ($15 Million) Series D Financing

Proceeds Will Further Advance Studies of Interleukin-7 in HIV, HBV, HCV and Oncology

PARIS--(HSMN NewsFeed)--Cytheris SA, a clinical stage biopharmaceutical company focused on research and development of new therapies for immune modulation, today announced that it has completed a €12 million ($15 million) Series D financing. New investor, CDC Entreprises (France), acting for the Strategic Investment Fund (FSI), participated in the round along with existing investors Bioam Gestion (France), Caisse de dépôt et Placement du Québec (Canada), CDC Innovation (France), Crédit Agricole Private Equity (France), and Forbion Capital Partners (The Netherlands). Jones Day Paris served as Company counsel.

In conjunction with the CDC Entreprises investment, Marie-Laure Garrigues, Director of Investments at CDC Entreprises, will join the Cytheris board of directors as an observer.

"Cytheris has an outstanding team working on the new frontier of immunotherapy, one of the most exciting areas of current medical development," said Ms. Garrigues. "We appreciate the opportunity to support the company's efforts in the critical areas of unmet medical need represented by HIV, hepatitis and oncology."

Proceeds from this financing will be used to accelerate development in the Company’s IL-7 (CYT107) clinical programs in HIV, HBV, HCV and oncology.

“We are delighted to welcome CDC Entreprises as an investor and Marie-Laure Garrigues as a board observer and are especially grateful for the continued support from our existing investors,” said Michel Morre, DVM, President and CEO of Cytheris. “This financing provides us with the resources to aggressively advance CYT107 through clinical trials, particularly in the HIV and hepatitis markets.”

“After demonstrating the quality of IL-7 induced immune reconstitution in most patients treated in our HIV studies, we are now focusing these investigations on showing that repeated cycles of IL-7 can induce long term or definitive immune restoration,” added Dr. Morre, “while our HCV and HBV studies are aimed at documenting the production of specific antiviral T cells, potentially offering long term protection.”

About Interleukin-7 (CYT107)

Recombinant human interleukin-7 (CYT107) is a critical immune-modulator for immune T-cell recovery and enhancement. As a growth factor and cytokine physiologically produced by marrow or thymic stromal cells and other epithelia, IL-7 has a critical and, at some steps, a non-redundant stimulating effect on T lymphocyte development, notably on thymopoïesis and, downstream from the thymus, on homeostatic expansion of peripheral T-cells.

Clinical trials conducted on more than 140 patients in Europe, North America and Taiwan have demonstrated a consistent safety and tolerability profile as well as the potential of IL-7 to expand and protect CD4+ and CD8+ T-cells in various pathologic conditions.

Currently, Cytheris is conducting multiple international investigations of IL-7 in HIV, HBV, HCV, idiopathic CD4 lymphocytopenia (sponsored by NIAID/NIH) and cancer, the latter including an NCI/NIH-sponsored study of IL-7 in combination with dendritic cell vaccines in a pilot study of tumor vaccination in children, and a study designed to restore CD4+ and CD8+ counts following T-cell depletion due to bone marrow or peripheral blood stem cell transplant (being conducted at the Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center in New York City).

About Cytheris -- www.cytheris.com

Cytheris SA is a privately held clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company focused on research and development of new therapies for immune modulation. These drugs aim at reconstituting and enhancing the immune system of patients suffering from cancer, chronic viral or bacterial infections such as HCV, HBV and HIV, or lympho-depleting treatments such as chemotherapy, radiotherapy, bone marrow transplantation (BMT) and hematopoietic cell transplantation (HCT). The company operates from its headquarters and laboratories in Issy-les-Moulineaux, a suburb of Paris, and its U.S. subsidiary in Rockville, Maryland.


Source: Cytheris

Issuer of this News Release is solely responsible for its content.
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