Euroscreen UPDATE: Euroscreen completes €10 million financing round!

Euroscreen has recently announced the completion of a €10 million Series A preferred stock financing led by Vesalius Biocapital II Partners and SRIW(Société Régionale d’Investissement de Wallonie SA).

The proceeds of the round will mainly be used to fund and develop the pre-IND, Phase I and initial Phase II clinical development of its main advanced product ESN364 for the treatment of endometriosis, a disease that affects 6-10% of women in childbearing age.

Filing for the IND with the FDA is expected in mid-2013 followed by Phase I clinical trials scheduled to begin before the end of the year and a plan to advance into Phase II proof of concept studies in 2014. The company has been delighted to work with Vesalius and SRIW, and other new shareholders: LSRP (Life Sciences Research Partners VZW), SPDG (Société de Participation et de Gestion SA) and Hunza Ventures, in addition to our existing shareholders. The existing shareholders participating in this new financing round has included Fortis Private Equity, Compagnie du Bois Sauvage SA, Ackermans & Van Haaren Nv, their university-based shareholders and other faithful individual shareholders.

This story is an update from the following post (published October 4th, 2012):

Euroscreen, a spin-off of ULB with plans of establishing a treatment for endometriosis*, is putting its “services business unit” up for sale. Recognizing the need for capital increases like the other active companies in the biotechnologies sector, such as Bone Therapeutics and Promethera, Euroscreen is now another company taking its turn searching for fresh money on the capital market.

Founded in 1994, Euroscreen (Biopark Gosselies, Belgium), a privately held preclinical-stage drug discovery and development company known for their focus on small molecule drugs for unmet medical needs as well as the development and commercialization of G Protein-Coupled Receptors (GPCR) reagents, is looking to refine its center of focus. The company wants to focus all their efforts on innovative drug candidates to treat diseases such as endometriosis. In order to help to finance the estimated €10-18 million budget needed to fund the Phase 1 and 2 clinical trials, Euroscreen, has decide to put their “services business unit”,Euroscreen FAST on the market. With hopes to complete the deal by the end of the year, one particular company has already expressed its interest but Euroscreen still remains very discreet about the size of the capital required.

A first syndicated financing could already provide them with €10 million but Euroscreen would like to go a step further and has decided to give themselves a few more weeks for additional new investors before closing this round of financing. The existing principal shareholders of Euroscreen comprise: BNP Paribas Fortis Private Equity Funds, Companie de Bois Sauvage, Ackermans & van Haaren, and Theodorus(whose funding activities support the research valuations at ULB).

The strategic reorientation currently in process will enable Euroscreen to convert 100% into a biotechnology company focusing on state-of-the-art treatment of advanced diseases that today remain incurable. The capital increase they are seeking will actually allow the company to finance Phase 1 and 2 clinical trials of the new molecule, ESN364; an innovative molecule that could offer interesting perspectives for the treatment of endometriosis. As of today, endometriosis remains a serious and debilitating disease and according to Jean Combalbert, CEO of Euroscreen, the only effective treatments to date are either total removal of the uterus and ovaries or treatment involving temporary chemical castration, for which the side effects are severe. This new drug treatment involves reducing the secretion of certain hormones without affecting others, thereby allowing the patient to avoid major side effects such as premature loss of bone density. In fact, Euroscreen believes the ESN364 could potentially allow women suffering from endometriosis the possibility to bear children.

Regarding other molecules, Euroscreen’s CEO has even bigger ideas. Behind the treatment of endometriosis there exist other important molecules of interest to this company that today employs approximately fifty people and produces a turnover of € 5.8 million. Euroscreen also has in its pipeline development possibilities in the fight against neurodegenerative diseases such as Alzheimer’s. Although still in the most preliminary stages of development, Combalbert feels the program is showing much promise.

So with the hopes of devoting itself entirely to the development of such state-of-the-art treatments, Euroscreen has decided to take another step forward by strategically putting its “services business unit” on the market.

To date, Euroscreen has discovery and licensing partnerships with Boehringer-Ingelheim, Grunenthal, HGS, Monogram Biosciences, Novartis and Pfizer.

* A gynecological disease characterized by the formation of endometrial tissue outside the uterus – the endometrium is the mucous membrane that lines the inside of the uterus. About 10 percent of women 18-45 years of age develop endometriosis, and in cases of infertility, 25 to 50 percent are due to endometriosis. The main symptoms associated with this disease are pain and excess bleeding.