GAITHERSBURG, Md., May 18 /PRNewswire/ -- Panacos Pharmaceuticals Inc. today announced that it has closed a $18,300,000 Series C financing led by prior investors Ampersand Ventures and A. M. Pappas & Associates. New investors in this round include Mitsui & Co. Venture Partners, Inc., Novo A/S, New England Partners Capital, LP, William Harris Investors and Lakeview Capital Management. The Maryland Department of Business and Economic Development, a prior investor, also joined the round. Dr. Samuel K. Ackerman, Panacos' Chairman, commented: "Completion of this financing is a major milestone for Panacos and reflects the great progress the Company has made over the past year, including the initiation of clinical testing of Panacos' lead HIV drug candidate, PA-457. We are delighted to have brought on board a high-quality group of new investors to support the Company's growth."
Panacos recently began a Phase 1 clinical trial of PA-457, a compound with potent activity against HIV, including drug-resistant strains of the virus. PA-457 is the first in a new class of antiretrovirals, pioneered by Panacos, called Maturation Inhibitors. In recent years, there has been a dramatic increase in the prevalence of HIV strains resistant to currently approved drugs in newly-diagnosed as well as treatment-experienced patients. This often leads to treatment failure, so there is a critical need for new therapies that are effective against these drug-resistant HIV strains. PA-457 has a different mechanism of action than approved drugs, acting at the end of the virus life cycle, and therefore retains activity against drug-resistant HIV. Furthermore, this compound is orally bioavailable, allowing delivery as a tablet or capsule unlike many other novel HIV therapeutics that must be injected.
"We will use the new funds to complete initial Phase clinical 1 trials and advance PA-457 into Phase 2 later this year," said Dr. Graham P. Allaway, co- founder and Chief Operating Officer of Panacos. "In parallel we will continue to build our antiviral pipeline, focusing on the optimization of small molecule HIV fusion inhibitors recently discovered by Panacos scientists, as well as the discovery of second generation maturation inhibitors."
About Panacos: Panacos Pharmaceuticals is engaged in the discovery and development of small molecule oral drugs for the treatment of HIV and other major human viral diseases. The Company's proprietary discovery technologies focus on novel targets in the virus life cycle, including virus fusion and virus maturation, the first and last steps of viral infection.
About Ampersand Ventures: Founded in 1988, Ampersand is a leading private equity investment firm with offices in Wellesley, MA and San Diego, CA. Ampersand currently manages $550 million in committed capital with investments targeted in the life sciences, information technology, and specialty materials and chemicals sectors. For more information, visit www.ampersandventures.com.
About A. M. Pappas & Associates: A. M. Pappas & Associates (AMP&A) is a Research Triangle Park, North Carolina-based venture capital firm that invests nationally in the life science industry. Founded in 1994, AMP&A has approximately $150 million under management and has invested in nearly 40 companies. The firm's primary investment focus is on product-oriented biotechnology and pharmaceutical companies with a secondary focus on medical technologies. Visit www.ampappas.com for more information.
For more information on Panacos Pharmaceuticals, please visit http://www.panacos.com, or email: info@panacos.com.
SOURCE Panacos Pharmaceuticals Inc.