Pontifax Fund has invested $4 million in Applied Immune Technologies Ltd. (AIT) at a company value of $21.5 million, after money.
AIT chief science officer Prof. Yoram Reiter of the Technion Israel Institute of Technology founded the company in 2007 on the basis of his research.
AIT CEO Dr. Mira Peled-Kamar told "Globes", "AIT has a platform for the development of antibodies against cancers and viral diseases. Our uniqueness is that the antibodies can identify intra-cellular markers and specific markers of diseases that antibodies usually cannot identify."
Peled-Kamar added that AIT has another technology for identifying new specific markers. Once they are identified, it will be possible to develop specialized T-Cell Receptor-Like recombinant antibodies that will only target the cancer cells and ignore healthy cells.
Peled-Kamar said, "The financing round is intended to finance the development of our leading antibody for melanoma, as well as to continue development of the technology for finding other markers."
Pontifax Fund, founded by former Teva chairman Eli Hurvitz, invests in life sciences start-ups.
Published by Globes [online], Israel business news - www.globes-online.com - on April 26, 2010
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