PARIS - Tibotec Group NV, which is based in the Belgian city of Mechelen and is specialized in the development of novel drugs for AIDS and HIV, completed a third funding round that brought it EUR41.5 million (US$36.5 million) in fresh capital.

The funds were provided by the company's existing shareholders, all of which exercised their rights to subscribe for the newly issued shares.

The holding company controlled by Tibotec's founders, PharmaBioscience, thus retained its majority interest. The other main shareholders are Belgian institutions, including Sofinim-Ackermans van Haaren, Fortis Group, KBC Banking & Insurance Group, IBEL NV, TrustCapital Partners NV and Manasales NV.

In its last funding round, completed in September 1999, Tibotec raised EUR35 million from these same investors. Altogether, the company has secured funding of EUR79 million since it was founded in 1994.

Karen Manson, Tibotec's vice president, business development, told BioWorld International that the latest injection of cash was "specifically to fund clinical trials," as well as to develop the new research and development center in Rockville, Md., of U.S. subsidiary Tibotec Inc. The company also has a marketing and manufacturing subsidiary in Dublin, Ireland, called Tibotec Pharmaceuticals. Together, it employs 151 people.

Three months ago, Tibotec announced the results of preclinical trials of what it describes as its first anti-HIV drug candidate, although Manson said it also had a number of drugs at different stages of clinical development. The compound, R165335-TMC125, a new non-nucleoside reverse transcriptase inhibitor (NNRTI), demonstrated "outstanding activity" in an in vitro test against both wild-type and multidrug-resistant strains of HIV. Tested against a panel of over 2,000 randomly selected recombinant HIV clinical isolates, 50 percent of which were resistant to at least one NNRTI, the compound inhibited 98 percent of all clinical isolates tested and 97 percent of the NNRTI-resistant strains.

Tibotec is developing both novel NNRTIs and protease inhibitors for the treatment of HIV infection. In addition, it is engaged in a number of early stage research programs directed at other diseases such as cancer, Alzheimer's and infectious diseases, including tuberculosis and malaria.

The company's most longstanding research collaboration is with Janssen Pharmaceutica, the Belgium-based subsidiary of Johnson & Johnson, and is for the screening of HIV drug candidates, some of which are now in development. In addition, Tibotec signed a two-year agreement with Cerep SA, of Paris, in June 1999, also for screening potential anti-HIV agents in the French drug discovery company's compound library.

Furthermore, in conjunction with Crucell NV, of Leiden, the Netherlands, Tibotec has created a joint venture called Galapagos Genomics NV, which specializes in human functional genomics. Drawing on Tibotec's automated, cell-based screening technology and Crucell's gene cloning and adenoviral vector know-how, it aims to accelerate the discovery and validation of new targets and the functional characterization of genes.