News
Ireland's Genable Technologies Completes an €5M Series B Financing
11th November 2011
Genable Technologies, (Dublin, Ireland) successfully completed a new financing round for €5m led by new investors Fountain Healthcare Partners alongside existing investors Delta Partners. This funding will support the on-going development of Genable's suppression/replacement gene therapy technology and specifically progress Genable's lead product GT038 for Retinitis Pigmentosa (RP) forward into clinical evaluation in man.
Patients with rhodopsin-linked Retinitis Pigmentosa have a mutation in the rhodopsin gene, which causes a patient's sight to worsen, eventually leading to blindness. There are currently no available therapies for RP. GT038 is a novel and unique therapy to treat rhodopsin-linked Retinitis Pigmentosa that utilizes AAV vectors to obtain expression of RNA interference molecules, which suppress the expression of the faulty gene, and replaces this with a gene encoding a functioning protein. This simple combination represents a new paradigm in medicine with the potential to cure this debilitating disease and not just treat the symptoms. Genable Technologies Ltd, was granted orphan drug designation for GT038 by the European Medicines Agency in December 2010.
Dr. Ena Prosser, Partner at Fountain Healthcare Partners commented "This renowned Trinity College-based team, along with the dedication and support of Irish families who carry genes which can lead to inheritable blindness, has pioneered research into inheritable blindness over several years. We believe that GT038 offers a significant technological breakthrough to address Retinitis Pigmentosa and we look forward to working closely with the Company to accelerate the development of GT038 and other products to the market."
Genable Chairman Dr. Geoffrey Vernon "would like to welcome Fountain Healthcare Partners as an investor with extensive industry expertise onto the Board and thank Delta Partners, Fighting Blindness Ireland, Foundation Fighting Blindness-National Neurovision Research Institute (USA) and Enterprise Ireland for the support they have provided Genable to date and their on-going commitment to the company and its development of novel therapies for serious ophthalmic diseases"
Professor Jane Farrar of Trinity College Dublin and co-Founder of Genable Technologies Limited commented "We are extremely pleased to see GT038 raise the finance necessary to translate basic research performed at TCD into the clinic. It will help raise awareness of Retinitis Pigmentosa as a serious disease and ultimately help more patients receive therapy for their disease".
About Genable Technologies Ltd
Genable Technologies Ltd. is a privately held, venture backed, Dublin (Ireland) based bio-pharmaceutical company developing new gene medicines to treat "dominant" genetic diseases based on the pioneering work of Professor Jane Farrar, Dr Paul Kenna & Professor Peter Humphries of Trinity College Dublin. The background research has been supported by Fighting Blindness Ireland, Science Foundation Ireland, Foundation Fighting Blindness-National Neurovision Research Institute (USA), Enterprise Ireland & EVI-GenoRet (EU FP6-funded).
About Fountain Healthcare Partners
Fountain Healthcare Partners ("Fountain") is a life science focused venture capital fund headquartered in Dublin, Ireland with a second office in New York, US. Fountain specializes in making investments in biotechnology, medical device, specialty pharma and diagnostic companies. Investments completed by the team include Amarin Corporation, Opsona Therapeutics, Palyon Medical Corporation Vivasure Medical Ltd Cappella Inc and Civitas Therapeutics. Fountain launched its inaugural fund (Fountain Healthcare Partners I) in May 2008 with €75M in committed capital. www.fh-partners.com
About Delta Partners
Delta Partners is among the most active early-stage venture capital investors in Europe. Established in 1994 and with €250 million under management in 70 companies, the firm focuses on investing in early-stage technology companies across ICT and Healthcare, primarily Medical Technology. Current investments include Miracor Medical Systems GmbH, Genable Technologies Ltd., Glysure Ltd., Neoss Ltd., Accunostics Ltd., SpineGuard SA and Advanced Surgical Concepts Ltd. The partners' backgrounds in start-ups, operations, strategy and finance complement the drive and ambition of entrepreneurial management teams. www.deltapartners.com
