Phytomedics Inc. Announces Series A Funding of $7.5 Million
DAYTON, N.J., Jan. 20 /PRNewswire/ -- Phytomedics Inc., an innovative biopharmaceutical company merging health care and plant biotechnology to discover, develop and manufacture novel botanical therapeutics, announced today that it has secured a $7.5 million Series A financing round. This new round of funding was led by Swiss-based Inventages venture capital Gmbh and joined by U.S.-based Burrill & Company.
"We are very pleased to receive this vote of confidence from the premier venture firms in the global life sciences investment community," said Bertold Fridlender, President and CEO of Phytomedics Inc. "With this new round of funding, Phytomedics Inc. will accelerate its product development and advance its strategic objective of launching a new generation of scientifically designed, tested and optimized multi-component botanical therapeutics."
Phytomedics' products include botanical drugs (as recently defined by the U.S. FDA), nutraceuticals / dietary supplements, cosmeceuticals, functional / medicinal foods, and plant-produced biologics. Through state-of-the-art, proprietary approaches, Phytomedics' botanical therapeutics program reconnects plants and human health at a new level of technological sophistication.
"Natural compounds will play a key role in the nutraceutical, cosmeceutical and pharmaceutical industries. We are very excited to be the lead-investor in the leading company in the botanical space. Phytomedics has not only an impressive pipeline of compounds, supported by agreements with renowned industry partners, but also the means to produce them" comments Dr. Gunnar Weikert, Ph.D., CEO & President of inventages venture capital.
Dr. Roger Wyse, Ph.D., Managing Director of Burrill & Company commented, "We are impressed with leadership skills, both business and scientific, of CEO, Dr. Bertold Fridlender, and of Founder and Chairman, Dr. Ilya Raskin. We trust that the management team will guide Phytomedics to both near and long term success." Dr. Wyse also added, "Burrill & Company's Nutraceutical Capital Fund is pleased to have participated in Phytomedics' most recent round of financing. Burrill believes that Phytomedics holds great promise in its pipeline of botanically-based drugs and nutraceutical bioactives in indication areas having large unmet medical needs like inflammation, diabetes, and obesity."
About Phytomedics Inc.
Phytomedics Inc. uses a broad and innovative proprietary technology platform to discover, develop and manufacture novel, multi-component and multi-functional botanical therapeutics such as botanical drugs and nutraceuticals, as well as recombinant proteins. Through this proprietary technology platform, the Company has produced a pipeline of pharmaceutical and nutraceutical lead compounds, several of which are in clinical development. Founded by Professor Ilya Raskin, Ph.D., Phytomedics Inc. conducts most of its R&D at the Biotech Center of Rutgers University.
About Inventages Venture Capital Gmbh
Inventages venture capital GmbH is a private equity and M&A company specializing in life sciences. The company invested in Phytomedics Inc. with its "Life Ventures" fund, which was closed in 2002 with an investment capital of EURO 150 million. This fund specializes in the life sciences with an emphasis on preventing diseases. The investment focus includes innovative food, nutrition, nutraceuticals, medical food, cosmeceuticals, pharmaceuticals, as well as, consumer relation management, processes and novel packaging technologies.
About Burrill & Company
Burrill & Company is a life sciences merchant bank focused exclusively on companies spanning the life sciences, including those in biotechnology, pharmaceuticals, diagnostics, human healthcare and related medical technologies, agricultural technologies, nutraceuticals, and biomaterials/bioprocesses. Burrill's business activities include strategic advisory services, publications, conferences, and the management of venture capital funds. The Burrill family of venture capital funds, with over $485 million under management, includes the Burrill Biotechnology Capital Fund, the Burrill Agbio Capital Fund and its successor—the Burrill Agbio Capital Fund II, the Burrill Nutraceuticals Capital Fund and the Burrill Life Science Capital Fund.
SOURCE: Phytomedics Inc.
65 Stults Road, Dayton, NJ 08810