BORNHEIM, Germany - Wilex Biotechnologie GmbH raised EUR30 million (US$25.9 million) in its third financing round.

"We'll use this money to advance development of our two anticancer drugs in Phase II and one that is in preclinical research," Wilex CEO Olaf Wilhelm told BioWorld International.

Both Phase II products are antibodies designed for treatment of renal cell carcinoma. The drug WX-G250RIT is labeled with radioactive iodine. According to Wilhelm, it provides radioimmunotherapy of renal cancer metastases. Munich-based Wilex reported in August that WX-G250RIT received orphan drug status from the FDA.

The other product is WX-G250. "This is the antibody without radioactive labeling," Wilhelm said. "We are developing it for treatment of residual renal cell carcinoma." The Phase II clinical trials for both products are proceeding in Europe and the U.S. Wilhelm said Wilex expects the start of Phase III trials for one of the products over the course of the next 12 months.

A cooperative agreement with Centocor/Johnson & Johnson, which gave the license for the antibody, is in place, Wilhelm said. "We will seek approval for a first cancer drug in 2004," he said, estimating sales of US$260 million if the projects succeed.

The preclinical product is a protease inhibitor. "This is also provided for cancer therapy. It will prevent cancer cells from resolving tissue in their surroundings," Wilhelm said.

New investors TVM Techno Venture Management (Munich, Boston and San Francisco), Merlin BioSciences (London and Luxembourg), Julius Baer (Frankfurt), Vontobel (Zurich) and BioConnect (Frankfurt) joined existing investors advised by Apax Partners and Co. (Munich) and Earlybird (Hamburg).

In two previous financing rounds, the company raised DM15 million (US$6.6 million). Privately held Wilex was founded in 1997 and started operations the following year.