TOP (Italy) - Nov 2007

unquote
01 November 2007

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Finlombarda’s fund NEXT has invested €1m in biotech business TOP (Transgenic Operative Products) in return for a qualified minority stake. To support the transaction, Finlombarda has utilised a cofinancing programme according to Law No. 388/2000, promoted by the Ministry for Economic Development and managed by MCC SpA. The investment opportunity came about through Finlombarda’s active scouting programmes in the main fields of technology within universities and incubators. From the first contact it took several months to structure the company and formalise the investment. It was said that the quality of the management and the innovations of TOP’s products were the main attractions to the business. The GPs may provide further funding to the company via co-investments with larger funds.

Company

TOP was established at the end of 2006 as a spin-off of Milan University to operate in the field of transgenic research. Originally, its research work was performed to understand the activities of hormones in female physiopathology, as well as the search for new drugs to treat hormone-sensitive tumours or post-menopause. The company then developed further studies, generating a second model – done in collaboration with a major Italian pharmaceutical company – that can be utilised to study anti-diabetic or anti-inflammatory drugs. Its current approach is based on introducing DNA in the genome of animals such as mice, which in turn produces a protein that can be readily measured in the presence of the drug or toxic compound being studied. As a result, the effect of the drug or toxic compound can be seen inside the healthy, living animals using non-invasive imaging methods – the same methods used in human diagnostics, such as PET (positron emission tomography), MRI (magnetic resonance imaging) and other methods. Thus, the effect of the drug or harmful compounds can be traced in time in each organ, tissue or cell able to respond to the external product. The animal research conducted by TOP enables the observation of drug’s effects on a living subject and minimising quantity of necessary drug use to obtain the desired effect in a specific organ. At the same time, TOP’s solutions allow an overall view in which other organs the drug has an effect and therefore is able to manifest unexpected and undesirable responses. Likewise, if the animal lives in a contaminated environment or eats food with additives, it is possible to observe whether the doses of toxins present in the environment or in the food are sufficient to influence normal, physiological activities. In that case, it is also possible to verify which organs have been harmed.

People

The acquisition was conducted by Alberto Trombetta and Cristina Bini of Finlombarda Gestioni SGR.

Advisers

Equity - MBL & Partners, Alessandro Marena (Legal)

Sourced from: Southern Europe unquote" 70 (Jan 2008)