Tuesday, October 7, 2008

Clarus leads cap of $60M funding for Biolex

By Mass High Tech Staff

Clarus Ventures of Cambridge led a $60 million Series D financing of North Carolina-based biopharmaceutical company Biolex Therapeutics Inc., according to Biolex officials.

Along with new investor OrbiMed Advisors LLC of New York, existing investors participating in the financing included Waltham’s Polaris Venture Partners, Intersouth Partners, Quaker BioVentures, Johnson & Johnson Development Corp., Investor Growth Capital, Mitsui & Co., The Dow Chemical Co., JP Morgan Securities and the North Carolina Economic Development Fund.

As part of the financing, Jeffrey Leiden, managing director of Clarus Ventures, and Klaus Veitinger, venture partner with OrbiMed Advisors, have joined Biolex’s board of directors.

Biolex’s lead drug candidate is Locteron, a controlled-release interferon alfa designed to treat hepatitis C, with fewer side effects compared to existing interferon products, officials say. According to Jan Turek, CEO of Biolex, the financing will allow the Pittsboro, N.C.-based company to take Locteron through Phase 2 testing and prepare it for Phase 3 development.

In July, Polaris participated in the $10 million financing of another North Carolina biotech, the agricultural technologies company Athenix Corp. In August, Clarus Ventures contributed to an extended second round funding of $22 million for Swiss biotech company EsbaTech AG.