Can-Fite BioPharma, a developer of treatments for cancer and inflammatory diseases, today announced that it had completed a round of financing that totaled $12 million.
The round was completed after BPW Israel Ventures LLD, a private equity fund managed by Bassini Playfair Wright LLC, invested nearly $500,000 in Can-Fite, the company said.
Other contributors in the round, which began in June 2002, included Giza Venture Capital, The Yozma Group, Ascend Technology Ventures, Vitaife and some senior physicians.
Can-Fite completed its previous round in March 2001, raising $3.5 million from Azritech Ventures, Biocom and MediSeed.
The start-up is currently engaged in phase II trials of its lead drug CF101 for the treatment of cancer and rheumatoid arthritis. The market potential for CF101 is estimated at more than $1 billion worldwide, and the first commercial product is expected in 2006, says Can-Fite.
The BPW funding is earmarked to help support the current phase II clinical trials of CF101, including trials of the drug candidate in colorectal cancer. Can-Fite reported that candidates for participation in the study were being enrolled at four leading medical centers in Israel.
"BPW Israel Ventures is extremely pleased to be an investor in Can-Fite, as we believe the company's unique approach has the potential to revolutionize the treatment of cancer and other diseases," said Emilio Bassini, co-founder and managing principal of Bassini Playfair Wright LLC.
BPW Israel Ventures LLC was established in 2000 to make fund and direct investments in Israel-related companies active in the technology sector. Bassini Playfair Wright LLC manages assets totaling about $600 million.
“This is an exciting time for Can-Fite. First, we are delighted to be working with the prestigious and distinguished team at BPW,” Can-Fite CEO Dr. Ilan Cohn said. “We are also enthusiastic about the start of our phase II trial. Patients having advanced metastatic colorectal cancer are eligible for enrollment in this trial. Based on the pre-clinical and clinical data to date, we are optimistic that this study will produce promising results.”
The objectives of the trial are to determine the safety and preliminary efficacy of daily oral doses of CF101 for patients with metastatic colorectal cancer. According to Can-Fite, nearly one million people worldwide are diagnosed with this cancer annually.
Can-Fite chief scientific officer Prof. Pnina Fishman said, "CF101 acts through a cell surface receptor to modulate some key signaling proteins within cancer cells that play a major role in tumor growth. In distinction from conventional chemotherapy, the drug’s uniqueness lies in its specificity toward cancer cells and in the fact that it does not harm normal proliferating cells, such as bone marrow cells.”
Dr. Frank Rauscher, professor and deputy director of the Wistar Institute Cancer Center at Penn State University and editor-in-chief of Cancer Research journal said, “There is an acute unmet need for new anti-cancer drugs that take advantage of the biology and genetics of human tumors. Research at Can-Fite is showing that CF101 is likely to be an alternative to the toxic, and at times marginally efficacious chemotherapeutic drugs that are in wide clinical use today."
Petah Tikva-based Can-Fite BioPharma was founded in 2000 by Prof. Pnina Fishman, a tumor immunologist from the Rabin Medical Center in Israel, and by Dr. Ilan Cohn, a patent attorney at Reinhold Cohn and Partners.
Published by Globes [online] - www.globes.co.il - on 11 June, 2003