QBI raises tens of millions of dollars in Japan
Quark Biotech Inc., chaired by Larry Ellison, has developed two molecules about to undergo clinical trials.
Gali Weinreb 28 Dec 05 19:40
Quark Biotech Inc. (QBI), which discovers and develops drugs, today completed a financing round, in which it raised tens of millions of dollars from Japanese financial entities. Several large drug companies may join the financing round in January 2006. The company is planning an IPO on the Tokyo Stock Exchange in 2007.
QBI’s most famous investor is Oracle founder, chairman, and CEO Lawrence (Larry) Ellison, who first invested in the company in 1999, and serves as its chairman. Other investors include Dr. Joseph Rubinfeld, a former VP at Bristol-Myers-Squibb (NYSE: BMY), and Nobel prizewinner and former president of Rockefeller University Joshua Lederberg.
QBI develops drugs by tracing genes the neutralization of which prevents the symptoms of a disease from occurring. The company has agreements with a number of Japanese pharmaceutical companies for joint development of drugs, based on molecules discovered by QBI.
These agreements have so far generated tens of millions of dollars in revenue, participation fees for R&D, and milestone payments. These drugs are in the advanced phases of clinical trials. The most advanced of them is a drug for treating osteoarthritis.
QBI has also developed three molecules that it wants to bring to market independently. The current financing round is designed mainly to support clinical trials for these molecules.
The first is a drug for blindness associated with old age. "Animal models suggest that there is a gene that can be neutralized, and that this will not only halt the deterioration caused by the disease, but will even improve the situation," says company founder and CEO Dr. Daniel Zurr. "Another disease is acute renal failure. Damage to the kidneys is one of the complications of open-heart surgery. We have found a drug that, when we inject it, inhibits these phenomena.
"We are the only Israeli company that has gone from discovery of the target molecules to development and marketing of the drug," Zurr adds. "Most companies in Israel buy target molecules from university researchers. Almost all our original investors are Jewish. Their vision is to promote a genuine ethical drugs company in Israel. At our board meetings, you can hear the word 'Zionism'. That's why we still haven’t been sold to a big company. Yes, even Larry Ellison himself is Jewish, although he doesn't talk about it much, and he shares this idea and this vision."
Published by Globes [online], Israel business news - www.globes.co.il - on December 28, 2005
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