BioWorld International Correspondent

PARIS - Cerenis Therapeutics SA completed a second funding round in which it raised €42.1 million.

The financing was led by TVM Capital, a trans-Atlantic venture capital firm based in Munich, Germany, and Boston, and OrbiMed, of New York, both of which are first-time investors in Cerenis. All the company's existing investors also participated in the financing, namely: Sofinnova Partners, of Paris; HealthCap, of Stockholm, Sweden; Alta Partners, of San Francisco; EDF Ventures, of Ann Arbor, Mich.; and NIF SMBC Ventures, of Tokyo.

Cerenis Therapeutics was established in March 2005 and is incorporated in both Toulouse, France, and Ann Arbor. It completed its first funding round the following August, when it raised $30.5 million.

Cerenis Therapeutics specializes in HDL-related drugs for cardiovascular diseases and metabolic disorders. HDL (high-density lipoprotein) is known as the good cholesterol, since it facilitates the removal of excess cholesterol from the body. Cerenis is developing both synthetic compounds and small-molecule drugs that either increase production of HDL or regulate the function of HDL activity, concentrating in particular on the treatment of atherosclerosis.

It is one of the largest private equity rounds in the European biotechnology sector this year, and the CEO of Cerenis, Jean-Louis Dasseux, told BioWorld International that it reflected the good preclinical results of the company's research and development and the fact that it was targeting a market with big potential.

Cerenis plans to use the funds to advance two research programs into clinical development. Its lead compound is Cerenis HDL, a synthetic form of HDL that mimics natural HDL in humans, while its second program involves the development of small-molecule therapies based on PPAR (peroxisome proliferator activated receptor) delta agonists. PPAR delta agonists are known to play a role in elevating levels of HDL and have the potential to help reduce cholesterol buildup through a natural process known as reverse lipid transport.

The program is being undertaken through a license signed with Nippon Chemiphar Co. Ltd., of Tokyo, in September 2005. The deal gives Cerenis exclusive development and commercialization rights in the U.S., Europe and other markets outside Europe for any product candidates developed under the agreement, while Nippon Chemiphar will retain development and marketing rights in Asia. The Japanese company also stands to receive milestone payments of up to $30 million during the R&D stage, followed by royalties on sales of any products brought to market.

Dasseux said that both programs would enter clinical development in 2008. He added that the company now had sufficient funding to complete proof-of-concept Phase II trials of one of those products and complete the Phase I program for the other, while it also hoped to have launched other early stage research programs at that point.