The News

CareX Completes 25 € million ($US32 million) Series B Private Placement- Funding to support development of diabetes and dyslipidemia therapies -

08/03/2004

Strasbourg, France, 8th March 2004 - CareX SA, the Strasbourg-based biopharmaceutical company focused on metabolic disease, announced today that it had raised €25 ($US32) million in a Series B funding round led by Index Ventures (Switzerland). Other new investors include Credit Lyonnais Private Equity (France), Global Life Science Ventures (Switzerland, Germany, UK) and BioMedinvest (Switzerland), the regional early stage fund of the HBM group.  Existing shareholders Sofinnova Partners (France), GIMV (Belgium) and Mara Ventures (US) also participated in the round.

Geoff Race, CEO of CareX said ‘We are delighted to have raised such a substantial sum in a challenging investment environment.  The success of the placement, which was heavily oversubscribed, is testimony to our unique understanding of nuclear receptors. We aim to harness this knowledge to provide better therapies for important metabolic diseases such as diabetes, dyslipidemia and cardiovascular disorders.’

‘This round will fund the company to mid 2006 when our two most advanced candidates, a PPARγ modulator for type 2 diabetes and an LXR modulator for dyslipidemia, will enter Phase II clinical studies.  The finance will also allow us to accelerate early stage research to candidate selection and build a substantial pipeline of compounds which target nuclear receptors to treat metabolic diseases.’ 

Francesco De Rubertis, Partner at Index Ventures said, “We are very excited about backing Carex. I believe that the company’s focussed strategy, its strong chemistry and structural biology expertise provide a very robust foundation for the successful discovery and development of drugs based on nuclear receptor modulators. In addition, we see great commercial potential in this class of drugs and in the metabolic diseases market.”

The global market for diabetes therapies is valued at billion per year and that for anti-cholesterol drugs is estimated to be worth billion annually.

For more information please contact
Geoff Race – CareX - +33 (0) 388 15 73 20
Nicki Brimicombe – NB PR - + 44 (0) 1883 732353

Notes to Editors

CareX is a biopharmaceutical company which applies its unique understanding of nuclear receptors to discover and develop treatments for a variety of metabolic diseases such as diabetes, atherosclerosis and cardiac disorders. Through very specific modulation of certain nuclear receptors, CareX exerts fine control over gene expression to develop efficacious therapies without the side effects of conventional treatments. At present the company has two small molecule programmes entering preclinical studies. The first, a PPARγ modulator to treat type 2 diabetes, should provide effective plasma glucose control without weight gain or water retention. The second, an LXR modulator for the treatment of cardiovascular disease, is being developed to raise HDL (good) cholesterol without increasing (bad) plasma triglycerides. The company was formed in 2001 by two scientists, Professors Pierre Chambon and Johan Auwerx from the Institute of Molecular and Cellular Genetics with the support of Sofinnova Partners. The company is privately owned and prior to today’s announcement it had raised m in seed finance. CareX is a 100% subsidiary of Carex Ltd. It is based in Strasbourg, France and employs 35 staff. 
 
Index Ventures is a leading pan-European venture capital fund, with offices in Geneva (Switzerland) and London (UK).  The firm manages over 0m for investments in life sciences and information technology. Life sciences investments include Genmab and 7TM Pharma (Denmark), Bioxell (Italy), Parallele Bioscience, Structural GenomiX and AlgoRx
(USA), Addex Pharmaceuticals (Switzerland) and Cellzome (UK).

Sofinnova Partners was created in 1972 in Paris, where it is still headquartered, Sofinnova Partners is one of the leading independent venture capital firms in France and in Europe. With key operations in the information technology and life science sectors, its investment strategy is based on two principles : “Invest in projects with a high potential in their early stages of development” and “Act as lead or co-lead investor”. Its investment team consists of 12 professionals who are all experts in their field and can assist companies in which Sofinnova chooses to invest. Sofinnova Partners has more than 500 million euros under management, a loyal base of international investors, and plans to strongly reinforce its European development in the coming years.

GIMV Since its incorporation in 1980, GIMV has grown into Belgium's most important venture capital provider and company-builder. GIMV has now become a major European and international market player. Both in Belgium and abroad, GIMV invests in life sciences, information and communication technology as well as in growth financing and management buy-outs (MBOs) of companies in more traditional sectors.
GIMV has a portfolio of more than 150 investments with a net asset value of about EUR 900 million. GIMV has been listed on Euronext Brussels since 1997. For more information on GIMV, please go to http://www.gimv.com/.

Crédit Lyonnais Private Equity is the asset management company of the Group Crédit Lyonnais dedicated to private equity investments. The investment teams, including 26 professionals are organized into four activity segments: Venture Capital, Expansion Capital & Buy Out and Secondary Market. Founded in 2000, Crédit Lyonnais Private Equity manages  € 632 million under French regulated mutual funds (FCPR, FCPI) and proprietary investment accounts (Crédit Lyonnais Venture Capital and Crédit Lyonnais Capital Investissement).Website: http://www.privatequity.creditlyonnais.com/

Global Life Science Ventures (GLSV) is a leading, independent venture capital fund focusing exclusively on the life sciences. With offices in Germany, Switzerland, and the UK, GLSV is dedicated to providing finance primarily to early-stage groups as well as selected later stage companies, including buy-outs. The group currently advises and manages funds greater than EUR 200 million. Founded in 1996, GLSV has built a broadly diversified portfolio of more than 25 companies in pharmaceuticals, diagnostics, medical devices, and biotechnology.
Website: http://www.glsv-vc.com/

BioMedinvest AG is the regional early stage fund of the HBM Group, a Swiss venture capital company investing in innovative start-up, early stage and spin-off companies in the biotechnology, emerging pharmaceuticals and medical technology sectors in Alpine Rim. Since today, BMI has built a diversified portfolio of 7 companies in pharmaceuticals, medical devices and biotechnology.

Mara Ventures is a U.S. Fund dedicated to early-stage private equity investments in life sciences companies in Europe and the Mid-Atlantic region of the U.S. The Fund has offices in Brussels and Washington D.C.