BioWorld International Correspondent

MUNICH, Germany - Jerini AG raised €15.5 million (US$20.1 million) in venture financing.

The company said it was a follow-on to its oversubscribed round of €31 million, which closed in June. Since its founding in 1994, Jerini has raised more than €70 million in private investment. (See BioWorld International, June 23, 2004.)

"This investment will increase our financial flexibility to ensure that we can maximize the commercial potential of our lead product," said Berndt Modig, the company's chief financial officer.

Modig sees the company's future as a stand-alone drug discovery and development company. At the time of the last fund raising, he told BioWorld International that eventually Jerini would like to tap the public markets for growth capital, but he declined to put forward a timetable leading to an initial public offering.

The company's lead drug is Icatibant, a selective peptidomimetic bradykinin BK 2 receptor antagonist. It is in registration trials in the U.S., Canada and Europe as a treatment for hereditary angioedema (HAE).

The company expects to enter the market in 2006 or 2007, and the funding will allow Jerini to complete trials with its own resources. Icatibant has been granted orphan dug designation by European and U.S. regulatory agencies for the treatment of HAE. The FDA also has granted Icatibant fast-track status for HAE.

The round was led by NGN Capital, of New York, along with co-leads Life Sciences Partners, of Amsterdam, the Netherlands, and Bioscience Investment Trust plc, of London. Additional investors included current backers Healthcap, TVM, 3i Group Investments LP and IBB Beteiligungsgesellschaft. Peter Johann, managing general partner at NGN Capital, will join Jerini's supervisory board.