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New Leaf Venture Partners Announces $12 Million Financing in
Tioga Pharmaceuticals
NEW YORK & MENLO PARK, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Jan. 9,
2006--New Leaf Venture Partners (NLV Partners) announced today
that it has invested in a $24 million Series A private equity
financing in Tioga Pharmaceuticals Incorporated. Tioga
Pharmaceuticals is engaged in the development of novel therapies
for the treatment of gastrointestinal diseases. Tioga is
developing asimadoline, a proprietary small molecule, for
treating irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) and post operative ileus.
NLV invested $12 million in the Series A financing, which was
led by Forward Ventures. BB Biotech Ventures II also
participated in the financing. The capital will be used to fund
a 600 patient phase IIb clinical trial for irritable bowel
syndrome and a 130 patient phase IIa trial for post operative
ileus.
Dr. Allen Mangel, Tioga's Chief Medical Officer and the former
worldwide head of gastrointestinal clinical development at
GlaxoSmithKline, stated: "I am excited to be leading the
clinical development of asimadoline. I believe this is the most
promising medicine in development today for the treatment of
IBS."
Asimadoline is a proprietary small molecule therapeutic
discovered and developed by Merck KGaA of Darmstadt, Germany.
Tioga has acquired all rights to asimadoline from Merck. The
compound has been tested in nearly 800 subjects and demonstrated
a promising safety profile. It has shown encouraging clinical
efficacy for the treatment of irritable bowel syndrome and has
the potential for treating other gastrointestinal diseases.
In connection with the financing, James Niedel, M.D., Ph.D., a
managing director at NLV Partners, has joined Tioga's board of
directors. Dr. Niedel commented, "Tioga was formed to address
diseases with broad markets and clear, unmet medical needs, such
as Irritable Bowel Syndrome (IBS), which affects 70 million
people in the United States and Europe. Early clinical data
suggest that asimadoline is safe, with enormous potential to
improve the lives of patients with this disease. We at New Leaf
look forward to working with Dr. Allen Mangel, Tioga's Chief
Medical Officer and one of the world's leading experts in IBS,
to complete its clinical development."
About NLV Partners
NLV Partners is a life science-dedicated venture capital firm
with offices in Menlo Park and New York. Founded by the former
members of Sprout Group's Healthcare Technology venture team,
NLV Partners invests primarily in companies focused on
clinical-stage biopharmaceutical products, early-stage medical
devices, and molecular diagnostics. In addition, the NLV
Partners team will continue to manage the existing $800 million
healthcare technology portfolio of Sprout Group.
Contact
Burns McClellan, New York
on Behalf of NLV Partners
Justin Jackson
212-213-0006 ext. 327
jjackson@burnsmc.com
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