NeoMed leads CHF 20m Genkyotex financing

VI Partners and BioMedInvest are new investors and co-leads in the round. Existing investors Edmond de Rothschild Investment Partners, Vesalius Biocapital Partners and Eclosion2 also participated.

The fresh funding will be used to complete a phase-two trial into a drug to treat diabetic kidney disease, advance a second drug into phase-one trials and broaden the company's pipeline of NOX enzyme inhibitors.

Previous funding
Genkyotex first received funding in January 2006, when business incubator Eclosion, the state of Geneva and the Swiss Commission for Technology and Innovation committed CHF 2m to the company.

In May 2008, Societe Generale Asset Management (SGAM) invested CHF 4m for preclinical development of the NADPH oxidase inhibitors for the treatment of renal cancer and diabetic kidney failure, among other diseases.

June 2011 saw Edmond de Rothschild Investment Partners lead a €14.5m funding round into the company. It invested via its BioDiscovery 3 vehicle, a €155m life sciences-focused fund. Newcomers Vesalius Biocapital Partners and Mitsubishi Pharma Corporate Venture, as well as existing backers Eclosion, SGAM and the Fondation d'Aide aux Entreprises also committed to the round. The funding enabled Genkyotex to pursue research and development into less advanced projects.

A series-C extension round was completed in July 2012, which saw all existing backers from the initial series-C in 2011 inject a further CHF 25m into the biotech.

Company
Genkyotex is a biopharmaceutical company headquartered in Geneva. It was founded in 2006 and focuses on the discovery and development of drugs targeting a family of enzymes called NADPH oxidases (NOX).

Its products are designed to be used in the treatment of conditions including diabetic hypertension, myocardial infarction, Alzheimer's disease and Parkinson's disease.

People
Claudio Nessi of NeoMed will take a seat on Genkyotex's board. Ursula Ney is CEO of Genkyotex.

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