Tercica Raises $44 Million in Series B Round
Thursday July 17, 7:31 am ET
Financing Should Fund Company Through Launch of Lead Product
SOUTH SAN FRANCISCO, Calif., July 17 /PRNewswire/ -- Tercica, Inc. announced today it has closed a Series B round of financing for approximately $44 million. The financing was led by Rho Ventures, along with Care Capital and MedImmune Ventures, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of MedImmune, Inc. (Nasdaq: MEDI - News). Existing investors MPM Capital and Prospect Venture Partners were also significant participants in the financing. Mark Leschly, Managing Partner of Rho Ventures, and Wayne T. Hockmeyer, Ph.D., President of MedImmune Ventures and Chairman of MedImmune will become members of Tercica's Board of Directors. In addition, Argeris N. ("Jerry") Karabelas, Ph.D., Partner at Care Capital, will be actively involved in an advisory role to the Company.
Tercica has completed Phase III studies of recombinant human Insulin-like Growth Factor-1 (IGF-1) as replacement therapy for short stature due to IGF-1 deficiency and plans to file a New Drug Application (NDA) for IGF-1 with the U.S. Food and Drug Administration in 2004. The proceeds from the financing will be used to complete commercial manufacturing scale-up, conduct additional clinical studies with IGF-1, including late-stage trials in diabetes, and build a field specialist force to serve the pediatric endocrinology community.
"Since our license of IGF-1 from Genentech in 2002, we have built an experienced management team and raised approximately $65 million from top-tier investors," commented John A. Scarlett, M.D., President and Chief Executive Officer of Tercica. "We expect that this Series B financing will be sufficient to allow us to complete our initial development and commercialization programs for IGF-1 as we advance it to the marketplace for short stature due to IGF-1 deficiency."
"We are very pleased to become involved during this exciting period of growth for the company. We believe that Tercica provides a unique investment opportunity, including a promising late-stage product and a management team with a proven track record of success," said Mr. Leschly. Dr. Hockmeyer added, "Tercica's leadership status in the development of IGF-1 positions the company to take advantage of serious unmet medical needs in the fields of growth biology and diabetes. This product provides a substantial market opportunity with a clear regulatory path."
Prior to joining Rho Ventures in 1999, Mr. Leschly spent five years in venture capital at Healthcare Ventures where he was a general partner. Previously, he had several years of management consulting experience at McKinsey & Company. He received an M.B.A. from Stanford Graduate School of Business. His current and recent board seats include: Anacor, Diversa, Memory Pharmaceuticals, MPV, NitroMed, Orametrix, Orqis, Senomyx and Vicuron.
Dr. Hockmeyer founded MedImmune, Inc., one of the industry's leading biotechnology companies, in April 1988 and served as its Chief Executive Officer until October 2000. He presently serves as the Chairman of the Board of Directors of MedImmune, Inc. and President of MedImmune Ventures, Inc. Dr. Hockmeyer holds a Ph.D. from the University of Florida. He is a member of the Board of Visitors of the University of Maryland Biotechnology Institute and the University of Maryland Baltimore County. He also serves as a member of the Board of Directors of the Technology Council of Maryland, Advancis Pharmaceuticals, Diversa, GenVec, Idenix Pharmaceuticals, InterMune, and ToleRx.
Dr. Karabelas was Head of Healthcare and CEO of Worldwide Pharmaceuticals for Novartis AG until July 2000. Prior to joining Novartis, he was Executive Vice President of SmithKline Beecham responsible for U.S. operations, European operations, regulatory, and strategic marketing. Dr. Karabelas is a member of the Scientific Advisory Council of the Massachusetts General Hospital and the Visiting Committee for Health Sciences and Technology at MIT. Dr. Karabelas holds a Ph.D. in pharmacokinetics from the Massachusetts College of Pharmacy. He is a member of the Board of Directors of SkyePharma, Human Genome Sciences, Nitromed and Anadys and is a Trustee of Fox Chase Cancer Center and the Philadelphia University of the Sciences.
About Tercica's Investors
Rho Ventures is a New York-based venture capital firm with extensive investments in the technology, healthcare and electronic information sectors. Since it was founded in 1981, the firm has invested in numerous companies including Active Power, Capstone Turbine, Ciena, Commerce One, Compaq Computer, Copper Mountain, Diversa, Human Genome Sciences, MedImmune and Vicuron. Aggregate venture capital under management exceeds $1 billion. Additional information can be found at www.rho.com.
MedImmune is a leading biotechnology company focused on researching, developing and commercializing products to prevent or treat infectious disease, autoimmune disease and cancer. MedImmune actively markets four products, Synagis® (palivizumab), FluMist(TM) (Influenza Virus Vaccine Live, Intranasal), Ethyol® (amifostine) and CytoGam® (cytomegalovirus immune globulin intravenous (human)), and has additional products in clinical testing. MedImmune employs approximately 1,700 people, is headquartered in Gaithersburg, Maryland, and has additional operations in Frederick, Maryland, as well as Pennsylvania, California, the United Kingdom and the Netherlands. The company's wholly owned subsidiary, MedImmune Ventures, Inc., seeks to discover and invest in companies and organizations developing therapeutic products or technologies with significant potential to improve the treatment or prevention of human disease. For more information on MedImmune, visit the company's website at www.medimmune.com.
Care Capital LLC (www.carecapital.com) is a life sciences investment firm focused on companies with products in clinical development and technologies that result in the creation of new product opportunities.
MPM Capital is the world's largest dedicated investor in life sciences. With committed capital under active management of more than $2.1 billion, MPM is uniquely structured to invest globally in healthcare innovation. In addition to its BioVentures family of venture capital funds, MPM invests in the public markets through its BioEquities hedge fund. Primarily in biotechnology, but also in medical devices and biopharmaceuticals, MPM has seamlessly integrated private and public equity products to target innovation in healthcare and, thereby, deliver exceptional returns to investors. The MPM BioVentures and MPM BioEquities family of funds are two distinctly different but highly complementary investment vehicles.
Prospect Venture Partners is a Palo Alto, California based venture capital firm with $600 million of capital under management. The firm is dedicated to investing in outstanding biomedical technology and life science companies. Prospect targets commercially attractive health care enterprises with outstanding entrepreneurial management teams, proprietary products, and innovative technology or services with potential for significant investment returns. For additional information on Prospect Venture Partners visit www.prospectventures.com.
About Tercica
Tercica is a late-stage biopharmaceutical company focused on the development and commercialization of therapies to treat disorders of the endocrine system, including human growth and diabetes. The company's lead product is recombinant human Insulin-like Growth Factor-1 (IGF-1), a naturally-occurring hormone with broad metabolic activity. IGF-1 has been shown to have clinically meaningful effects on both skeletal growth and on lowering blood-glucose levels in advanced clinical trials. For more information about Tercica, please visit www.tercica.com. |
