RNA interference-based drug development company Quark Pharmaceuticals Inc. has raised $27 million in a private financing round from SBI Holding Inc. units SBI Asset Management Co. Ltd. and SBI Investment Co. Ltd. of Japan. Quark will use the proceeds to move forward on preclinical and clinical studies of its RNAi drug pipeline.
Quark CEO Daniel Zurr said that US funds, some of which specialize in the life sciences, also participated in the round. Quark controlling shareholder, Oracle founder and CEO Larry Ellison, did not participate in the round. He owns 43% of the company.
Quark has two products in clinical trials and plans to increase the number to five by the end of the year. One product, AKLi-5, now in Phase I/IIa trials, aims to prevent acute kidney injury following heart surgery. The other product, RTP-801i, now in Phase II trials, aims to treat, for the treatment of age-related Macular Degeneration (AMD). The company has an agreement with Pfizer Inc. (NYSE:PFE; LSE:PFZ) to commercialize RTP-801i, but it wholly-owns AKLi-5. Both AKLi-5 and RTP-801i are silencing RNA (siRNA) drugs that temporarily inhibit the expression of human p53.
Zurr said, "The additional funding we are announcing today will allow us to significantly expand our clinical program. Between our licensee, Pfizer, and Quark, we anticipate having Quark drug candidates in five clinical programs by the second half of 2008.”
Quark has 100 employees at its Ness Ziona facility, and also has offices in Boulder, Colorado, and Fremont, California. The company expects to hire staff following the financing round. Zurr said, "A lot of the money raised will go to Israel, and some of the clinical will be conducted here."
Quark planned to hold an IPO on Nasdaq in mid-2007. The company aimed to raise up to $75 million at a company value of $250-300 million. The IPO was deferred when the company failed to achieve this valuation.
Published by Globes [online], Israel business news - www.globes-online.com - on April 9, 2008
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