 |
December 6, 2004 Endocyte secures close to $23 million in Series C-2 round of financingWEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. - Endocyte Inc., a biotechnology company developing receptor-targeted therapeutics for the treatment of cancer and autoimmune diseases, announced today (Monday, Dec. 6) that it has completed a $22.6 million Series C-2 financing.
"This funding will support clinical trials for our receptor-targeted cancer and autoimmune products," said Ron Ellis, Endocyte's president and CEO. "This round of financing would not have been possible without the efforts and progress made by our employees along with support of our existing and new investors. This is a good investment group with a track record of building successful companies." Endocyte, located in West Lafayette, Ind., is developing a new generation of receptor-targeted therapeutics or "smart drugs" that reduce side effects by targeting drugs to receptors present on diseased cells. The financing was led by Burrill & Company and included new investors Blue Chip Venture Company, Triathlon Venture Partners and Twilight Venture Partners. Existing investors, Sanderling Venture Partners, Cincinnati Financial Corp and American Bailey Ventures, also participated. Both Burrill & Company and Triathlon Venture Partners receive funding from the $73 million capital pool called Indiana Future Fund I, which was organized last year by central Indiana's life sciences initiative BioCrossroads. "We're proud to add Endocyte to our portfolio of 50 companies, and believe it will be one of the most important investments we've made," said G. Steven Burrill, CEO of Burrill & Company. Burrill & Company is a life sciences merchant bank with more than $500 million under management. Burrill is focused exclusively on companies involved in biotechnology, pharmaceuticals, diagnostics, devices, human health care and related medical technologies, nutraceuticals and wellness, agricultural biotechnology, and industrial biotechnology (biomaterials/bioprocesses). "The area of targeted therapeutics is an extremely important development in medicine," said Ann Hanham, Burrill & Company's managing director. "Endocyte's proprietary technology for identifying unique cell surface receptors that, in turn, can be used for therapeutic targeting is extremely exciting to us." This press release contains "forward-looking statements" as that term is defined in the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. These statements are based on management's current expectations and involve significant risks and uncertainties that may cause results to differ materially from those set forth in the statements. We undertake no obligation to publicly update any forward-looking statement, whether as a result of new information, future events, or otherwise. Contacts: Jeanine Phipps, media relations, Purdue Research Park, (765) 494-0748, jeanine@purdue.edu Marchell Baker, human resources, public relations and investor relations manager, Endocyte Inc., (765) 463-7175, marchellbaker@endocyte.com Photo Caption: |
