Hercules Provides $15.0 Million in Financing to Sirtris Pharmaceuticals, a Biopharmaceutical Company Focused on the Development of Sirtuin-Modulating Therapeutics for the Treatment of Important Diseases of Aging
PALO ALTO, Calif., April 20 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Hercules Technology Growth Capital, Inc. (Nasdaq: HTGC - News), a leading specialty finance company providing venture capital and private equity backed technology and life science companies with debt and equity growth capital, announced April 19 it provided $15.0 million of debt financing to Sirtris Pharmaceuticals, a biopharmaceutical company focused on the development of sirtuin-modulating therapeutics for the treatment of important diseases of aging. This is in addition to a recent $22.0 million Series C equity raise by the company and a total of $67.0 million in equity raised to date. Proceeds from the financing will be used to accelerate Sirtris' therapeutic programs.
"Sirtris' researchers have discovered the importance of sirtuins, the body's own health-enhancing proteins, and their therapeutic potential to enhance the body's ability to survive adversity by promoting the body's natural defense against disease," said Parag Shah, managing director of life sciences at Hercules. "Sirtris is developing first-in-class sirtuin- modulating therapeutics, to treat important diseases of aging in the metabolic and neurological disease areas."
Whereas most pharmaceutical discovery efforts look to control or shut off harmful, disease-causing genes or mutations, Sirtris is taking a different approach by activating the body's own health-promoting genes to fight disease. These genes exist in most life forms and are normally activated during adverse conditions, such as a lack of food, in order to give organisms the best chance of survival.
About Hercules Technology Growth Capital, Inc.:
Founded in December 2003, Hercules Technology Growth Capital, Inc. is a NASDAQ traded specialty finance company providing debt and equity growth capital to technology-related companies at all stages of development. The company primarily finances privately-held companies backed by leading venture capital and private equity firms and also may finance certain publicly-traded companies. Hercules focuses its investments in companies active in technology and technology-related industries such as computer software and hardware, networking systems, semiconductors, semiconductor capital equipment, information technology infrastructure, Internet consumer and business services, telecommunications, and life sciences. The company's investments are originated through its principal office located in Silicon Valley, as well as additional offices in the Boston, Boulder and Chicago areas. Providing capital to publicly traded or privately held companies backed by leading venture capital and private equity firms involves a high degree of credit risk and may result in potential losses of capital.
For more information, please visit htgc.com. Companies interested in learning more about financing opportunities should contact info@htgc.com or call 650-289-3060.
About Sirtris Pharmaceuticals:
Sirtris Pharmaceuticals is a biopharmaceutical company developing and commercializing novel therapeutics that modulate sirtuins, a recently discovered family of enzymes that promotes the body's natural defense against disease. Also known as class III histone deacetylases (HDACs), sirtuins are attractive drug targets for diseases of aging, including metabolic and neurological diseases. Sirtris has built the dominant sirtuin intellectual property estate and know-how with a comprehensive suite of reagents, proprietary assays, transgenic animal models, and biomarkers.
Sirtris Pharmaceuticals was founded by Rich Aldrich, Richard Pops, Paul Schimmel, David Sinclair and Christoph Westphal, and has raised a total of $82 million since inception. Its investors include Polaris Venture Partners, TVM Capital, Cardinal Partners, Skyline Ventures, Three Arch Partners, The Wellcome Trust, Bessemer Venture Partners, Novartis Bioventures Fund, Cargill Ventures, Genzyme Corporation, QVT Fund LP, Cycad Group, Hunt Ventures, Red Abbey, and Alexandria Real Estate Equities, Inc. The company's headquarters are in Cambridge, Massachusetts. For additional information, please visit sirtrispharma.com. |
