BioWorld International Correspondent

Swiss drug discovery and development firm Axovan AG raised CHF30 million (US$18.5 million) in second-round funding from a consortium of investors led by Atlas Venture, of London and Boston.

New investors in the company also include Heidelberg Innovation GmbH & Co. BioScience Venture KG, of Heidelberg, Germany; NeoMed AS, of Oslo, Norway; and Banque Cantonale Vaudoise Private Equity, of Lausanne, Switzerland.

The company also acquired from Basel-based F. Hoffmann-La Roche Ltd. worldwide rights to an injectable endothelin antagonist that is under development for prevention and treatment of vasospasm following subarachnoid hemorrhage. The compound already has completed Phase I trials and is expected to enter Phase II trials in Europe later this year, followed by Phase II trials in the U.S. in 2003. Roche and Tokyo-based Chugai Pharmaceutical Co. Ltd., which is in the process of merging with Nippon Roche, have retained rights to reacquire the compound.

Axovan, of Allschwil, did not disclose its valuation following this round. But Managing Director of Finance and Business Development Philippe Dro told BioWorld International that Atlas now is its largest shareholder. Actelion Ltd., also of Allschwil, had held that position following Axovan’s CHF8 million first financing round in 2000. Axovan was founded in April that year by Thomas Giller, Olivier Valdenaire and Actelion. Giller and Valdenaire previously worked with Actelion’s founding team at Roche.

Axovan’s focus is on finding drugs that act on G protein-coupled receptors. Dro said it will use the fresh injection of cash to strengthen its discovery platform, to accelerate its lead development and optimization activities and to continue refining its software-based predictive tools, which combine chemistry, ADME data and predictive biology. “We assess that under current circumstances this money should fund us for the next 18 to 24 months,” he said.