FRANCE - Immutep seeks EUR 13m from European VCs

Fay
19 April 2006

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French biopharmaceutical company Immutep is seeking a further EUR 13m from European investors, in addition to the EUR 5m already received from its existing investors. In December 2004, Innoven Partenaires led a EUR 2.5m second round of funding in the start-up, alongside co-investor Equitis through its specialist biotech fund, H2I. The proceeds were used to take the company's lead product, IMP321, into phase I/II clinical trials. Exactly a year earlier, Innoven Partenaires had provided a EUR 2.5m first round of funding in the company.

Immutep’s founding CEO John Hawken explains that the company has doubled in both size and potential following the company’s first financing rounds. Part of the anticipated EUR 13m will be used to finance seven clinical trials planned for Immutep’s protein-based therapeutic antibodies against cancer and infectious diseases. The remainder will be deployed in launching pre-clinical trials for its second activity focusing on therapeutic antibodies, which it began in 2005. Hawken confirms that Innoven Partners and Equitis will be reinvesting a substantial amount in the third round of funding, which is due to go ahead in June 2006. Jean-Sebastien Cleiftie and Paul Toon will be coordinating the deal on behalf of Innoven Partenaires, while Raffy Kazandjian will be representing Equitis. The remaining equity is being sought from major European investors.

Hawken founded Orsay-based Immutep in 2001, together with CSO Frédéric Triebel, to develop and market innovative sLAG-3 (soluble lymphocyte activation gene-3) protein-based therapeutic vaccines against cancer and infectious diseases. The company has a fully-functional laboratory located in the faculty of the pharmacy campus at Châtenay-Malabry. Through its presence at the campus, Immutep is keen to interact with the large scientific and medical community present in Paris. The firm currently employs a staff of ten, but intends to have hired an additional seven employees by June.