By Karen Young

ViaCell Inc. raised $15 million in a private financing in which Genzyme Corp. took a prominent position.

¿We¿ve raised this money for expanding our research and development and moving into clinical trials,¿ said Chris Adams, senior vice president of business development for Boston-based ViaCell. ¿It will also be used for expanding our research capabilities and expanding our commercial operations.¿

ViaCell is moving toward clinical trials and is preparing an investigational new drug application to initiate trials designed to demonstrate the safety, efficacy and clinical benefits of selectively amplified stem cell populations.

Investors included the Economic Development Board of Singapore and Tullis-Dickerson & Co., of Greenwich, Conn. Other investors included United Offshore Bank Venture Technology Investments Ltd., of Singapore; Nomura International, of London; The Stephens Group, of Little Rock, Ark.; and Zero Stage Capital, of Cambridge, Mass.

Adams said raising the capital was not difficult, even in a troubled business climate.

¿We have a very strong diversified investor base that is global,¿ said Mary Thistle, vice president, finance and corporate planning, noting that these investors recognize the potential for cellular medicines and therapies.

The company has raised $90 million to date and now has $65 million in cash, which Adams said ¿is a very good base to move forward from.¿

Genzyme, of Cambridge, Mass., is ¿exploring opportunities to work with us to develop innovative cellular therapy products,¿ said Adams, who would not get into specific details.

ViaCell in July acquired another Boston company, Cerebrotec, to create a new division called the ViaCell Neuroscience Division. The formation of the division was based on Cerebrotec¿s stem cell and neurotrophic growth factor research for the treatment of stroke, combined with ViaCell¿s Selective Amplification technology. The focus is to develop new cellular and molecular medicines for neurological diseases, in particular, stroke recovery. (See BioWorld Today, July 26, 2001.)

As a result of the acquisition, the founder and president of Cerebrotec, Seth Finklestein, joined ViaCell and heads the division. Cerebrotec also brought a five-patent portfolio to the company, three of which were pending at the time, from Massachusetts General Hospital.

Privately held ViaCell was formed by the merger of umbilical cord-blood banking business ViaCord Inc. and the biotech company t. Breeders Inc. in the spring of 2000. (See BioWorld Today, May 11, 2000.)