Acorda Therapeutics Completes $55 Million Private Financing Led By Easton Hunt Capital Partners, L.P.
Friday May 9, 1:45 pm ET
Company is in late stage trials for treatment of spinal cord injury and multiple sclerosis
HAWTHORNE, N.Y. & NEW YORK--(BUSINESS WIRE)--May 9, 2003-- Acorda Therapeutics announced today that it has raised $55.3 million in a private venture financing led by Easton Hunt Capital Partners.
Additional major investors are ABN AMRO Capital (Amsterdam), Cross Atlantic Partners (New York), JP Morgan Fleming Asset Management (New York), and Techno Venture Management (Boston and Munich). The Company has raised $129 million since it was founded in 1995.
John Friedman, Managing Partner of Easton Hunt, will join Acorda's Board of Directors effective immediately. Sandra Panem, Ph.D., a Partner at Cross Atlantic Partners, currently serves on the Board.
"We're proud to have Easton Hunt Capital Partners and other distinguished venture capital firms join our existing roster of seasoned investors. This support is especially gratifying given the current financial environment. We believe that this strong participation by both new and existing investors is an important validation of Acorda's development path," noted Ron Cohen, M.D., President and CEO of Acorda.
Acorda plans to use the funding to advance its clinical and pre-clinical programs for spinal cord injury, multiple sclerosis and other central nervous system disorders. Fampridine-SR, the Company's lead product candidate, is in Phase 3 clinical trials to evaluate its safety and efficacy in the treatment of spasticity in people with chronic spinal cord injury. Secondary endpoints in the study include measures for improvement in bladder, bowel, and sexual function. Acorda also is testing Fampridine-SR in Phase 2 clinical trials to evaluate its safety and efficacy in the treatment of walking impairment and leg muscle strength in people with MS.
Acorda has several additional products in development, including two technologies for repair of myelin in the central nervous system. The Company's remyelination program comprises exclusive worldwide licenses to a class of remyelinating monoclonal antibodies, and to a neuregulin, glial growth factor 2 (GGF2). Both therapeutic agents have shown proof of principle in animal models and are in preclinical development. Acorda also has an exclusive worldwide license to neuregulin 2 (NRG2), another member of the neuregulin family that has shown promise in promoting repair of nerves in the central nervous system.
Mr. Friedman said, "Easton Hunt is proud to lead one of the largest private biotech financings in 2003 to date. We believe that Acorda represents a truly exciting investment opportunity in that it combines a first-rate management team with novel treatments for major CNS disorders for which there are few, if any, effective treatment alternatives. Given that Fampridine-SR represents a late-stage clinical product with years of patient experience, we are optimistic about the success of the product and the Company. We are delighted to be joined in this investment by such prominent investors as ABN AMRO Capital, Cross Atlantic Partners, JP Morgan Fleming Asset Management, and Techno Venture Management, among others."
Easton Hunt Capital Partners, L.P. (EHCP), with offices in New York and Florida, is a venture capital/private equity fund investing in early and late stage venture capital transactions and management buyouts. Healthcare has been one of the Fund's key areas of focus. In healthcare, EHCP has concentrated on transactions in the drug discovery, drug delivery, and medical device arenas. Its target investments are well-managed companies characterized by differentiated products addressing major unserved markets.
Acorda Therapeutics, a privately held biotechnology company, is developing therapies for spinal cord injury (SCI) and related neurological conditions, including multiple sclerosis (MS). The Company's lead product, Fampridine-SR, is in Phase 3 clinical trials for chronic SCI and Phase 2 for MS. Acorda's technology platform includes two remyelinating agents in preclinical development for MS. They include M1, a class of human monoclonal antibodies, and GGF2, a product of the neuregulin 1 gene. Both agents have been shown to restore myelin in the brain and spinal cord in animal models of MS. Additionally, Acorda is developing multiple approaches to regeneration and repair of the spinal cord and brain. In 2002, Acorda was the recipient of the National Spinal Cord Injury Association's L. W. Freeman Award for scientific research.
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