Antabio, the biopharmaceutical antibacterial drug discovery company, welcomes M. Christophe RICARD former CEO of the Swiss pharmaceutical group OM Pharma as its new investor. Under Mr RICARD’s leadership, OM Pharma developed and commercialized two record selling drugs aimed at preventing and treating bacterial infections, Broncho-Vaxom® and Uro-Vaxom®, prior to being acquired by the Galenica group in 2009. As a new investor Christophe RICARD will provide Antabio with significant industrial expertise in the infectious disease space.
“I have always been convinced that one of the main health challenges of the 21st century resides in providing background therapies against recurrent infections and in addressing antibiotic resistance” says Christophe Ricard. “I am excited to become a shareholder of Antabio, a company which novel and complementary discovery programs and strong management team is in a good position to deliver solutions to these problems in the medium-term.”
«The arrival of Mr RICARD among Antabio’s shareholders is a token of credibility and recognition to our strategy to develop novel treatments against antibiotic-resistant infections » says Marc LEMONNIER, CEO of Antabio. « This novel fundraising gives us the financial means to achieve our immediate R&D objectives allowing us to reach our next 2012 milestones. Antabio is seeking additional investment to further its programs while considering developing partnerships with strategic pharma and biotech companies. We are pursuing our discussions with professional investors in order to complete the 5M€ fundraising that will take us to the first trials of our first-in-class molecules in man by the end of 2014”.
About Antabio
Antabio is a private biopharmaceutical company developing novel antibacterial resistance-breakers to treat drug-resistant infections in areas of highest unmet medical need. Two of Antabio’s programs have received Wellcome Trust Seeding Drug Discovery Awards to date: [i] a novel, safe and efficacious inhibitor of bacterial metallo ß-lactamases to be combined with a carbapenem for the treatment of drug-resistant nosocomial infections and [ii] a first-in-class inhibitor of Pseudomonas virulence to be co-administered with standard-of-care antibiotics for the long-term management of chronic respiratory infections. The company’s lead product is expected to enter the clinic in 2019 with a fast track to anticipated marketing approval by 2021. Antabio has built a best in class, international team of experts in the field and is currently seeking to raise additional funds to progress its pipeline up to the next value inflection point. The Company is also looking to in-license additional assets focused on Gram-negative antibiotic resistant therapies. Please visit www.antabio.com and follow us on Twitter @antabio