IVC Online reports that RNA interference (RNAi)-based drug development company Quark Pharmaceuticals Ltd. has raised $10 million in its eighth financing round from previous investors SBI Asset Management Co. Ltd. and SBI Investment Co. Ltd., as well as other undisclosed venture capital funds.
Quark has raised $130 million since it was founded in 1994, making the drug development company one of the largest Israeli recipients of venture capital. One of the company's first investors was Oracle founder and CEO Larry Ellison. Unusually for an Israeli company, most of its investors are from Japan.
Quark, which has 200 employees, is developing a treatment for diabetic macular edema, which can lead to blindness. The company completed the Phase II clinical trial of RTP-801i-14, its treatment for the disease.
Quark has developed a method for investigating the effects of various genes on diseases by selectively inhibiting the expression of these genes through RNA interference.
The company already has the results of its Phase I clinical trial on its drug for the treatment of age-related macular degeneration (AMD), which showed that the drug was safe.
Published by Globes [online], Israel business news - www.globes-online.com - on June 6, 2010
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