BioWorld International Correspondent

BRUSSELS, Belgium - OncoMethylome Sciences of Liege, Belgium, raised €10.6 million (US$14 million) through a private placement to institutional and qualified investors. An accelerated offering allowed the company to place 1,063,351 new shares with institutional and qualified investors at a price of €10 per share. The company will apply for admission of the shares on Eurolist by Euronext Brussels and Euronext Amsterdam.

OncoMethylome CEO Herman Spolders said the offering was more than two times oversubscribed. The molecular diagnostics company, established in January 2003, is developing gene methylation tests for detecting and treating cancer. The funds will be used to finance a clinical trials program.

In what has been a good week for Belgian biotech firms, Galapagos of Mechelen announced it had been awarded €5.2 million (US$7 million) in research grants from the Netherlands and the European Union. The company said the grants will support the development of candidate drugs, including Galapagos' core programs in bone and joint diseases.

The Dutch ministries of economic affairs and education, culture and science are providing €2.9 million for an eight-year program focused on developing new disease models to speed the drug discovery process.

The Dutch Top Institute Pharma foundation is contributing €1.5 million to identify novel cancer drugs in a four-year program in which Galapagos will collaborate with Dutch biotechnology company Agamyxis and the Utrecht University Medical Center. The EU is contributing €800,000 for two three-year projects to develop high-throughput assays to study cancer progression and develop anti-cancer compounds.