4-Antibody closes 6M SwFr financing, appoints CEO

4-Antibody, a Basel, Switzerland-based biotechnology company focused on exploiting its proprietary platform to develop de novo and improved fully-human antibodies says it has closed a 6.0 million Swiss franc ($4.8 million) Series A financing and has appointed of Sijmen de Vries as its new chief executive.

The financing was provided by a consortium of existing investors including Biomedinvest AG, Grazia Equity, Life Science Partners and Mulligan Biocapital. The proceeds will be used to develop internal pipeline projects, initially to preclinical proof-of-concept, and toestablish licensing partnerships with biotechnology and pharmaceutical partners.

Sijmen joins 4-Antibody from Morphochem AG of Munich, Germany, where he was CEO and, after successfully re-focusing the business on antibiotic development and steering its lead hospital antibiotic through preclinical development, he merged the company with Biovertis AG. Prior to that, he held various senior management positions at Novartis Pharma AG and SmithKline Beecham. Dr de Vries succeeds Ulf Grawunder who, as co-founder of the company, led it through its initial growth phases and continues to serve the company as its chief scientific officer.