TransPharma Medical, a developer of drug delivery systems, today announced that it raised $8.9 million in its second round of financing. The round was led by Evergreen Partners and included a new investor from Canada, T2C2/Bio, and current investors Pitango Venture Capital, Vitalife and Biomedical Investments.
TransPharma Medical is engaged in the development of systems that deliver drugs through the skin. The company’s first product, called ViaDerm, creates microscopic passageways through the outer layer of the skin and administers the drug together with the use of a patch.
The company, which employs 25 people at its Yehud headquarters, says current delivery systems are unable to optimize or control drug flow through the skin and delivery is limited to small-size drug molecules.
TransPharma says it will use the funds to enable the continued development of a portfolio of transdermal products based on its RF-MicroChannels technology. The funds will also allow the company to intensify its business development, manufacturing process and clinical studies.
Dr. Ronit Bendori, a partner at Evergreen Partners, and Philip Coriat, an associate at T2C2/Bio, have both join TransPharma’s board.
TransPharma is T2C2/Bio’s first investment in Israel. Coriat said TransPharma had “a widely applicable low cost state-of-the-art technology in a field where Israeli companies have a relative technological advantage and successful track record.”
TransPharma Medical CEO Dr. Daphna Heffetz said, “The support of the new and current investors endorses our transdermal delivery paradigm and this financing will move us closer to getting our first drug product into the market.”
Published by Globes [online] - www.globes.co.il - on 10 June, 2003