BioWorld International Correspondent

LONDON Arrow Therapeutics Ltd. raised £7 million (US$10 million) from existing investors in its second funding round.

Finance Director Piers Morgan told BioWorld International the money was sufficient for the next two years, in which time the company expects to have three projects in clinical trials. “Seven million pounds is the amount we identified we needed, and existing shareholders were keen to put it in. We are delighted at their continuing support.”

The round was led by GIMV, of Belgium, with Alta Partners, 3i Group plc, TVM and Unibio participating.

London-based Arrow specializes in the discovery and development of novel anti-infectives. It has seven projects at various stages up to and including preclinical development. Its lead compound, A358, is an antibiotic with a broad spectrum of activity against Gram-positive bacteria. It also has a compound against respiratory syncytial virus, which causes croup in babies, and for which there is currently no treatment, and is working on inhibitors of the hepatitis C virus.

The company’s approach is based on a proprietary technology for scanning the genomes of pathogenic microbes for enzyme targets found only in pathogens.

Arrow was spun out of Wolfson Institute in London in 1998, and raised £11.1 million in its first round in July 2000.

Morgan said the company expects to go public before the latest funding is spent. “It obviously has to be part of our plans. But it is hard to tell when at the moment, given the state of the IPO markets.”