CDD placement raises L7.5 million

Cambridge Drug Discovery of the UK has announced that it has raised afurther L7.5 million ($11.2 million) through a private placement with new and existing investors. The financing, led by ABN Amro, Mitsubishi Corp and Friends, Ivory & Sime (the latter investing in the health care sector for the first time), has significantly broadened CDD's shareholder base, said the firm.

CDD claimed that the proceeds will be used to finance "a new chemistry capability in response to the growing market need in the biopharmaceutical sector for innovative medicinal chemistry," and will allow it to develop a unique screening platform based on retroviral display technology. CDD's Mark Treherne, chief executive, said that, thanks to the new funding, the firm will be able to offer its partners "high-quality, optimized drug leads to target key proteins....in many important cardiovascular, inflammatory and metabolic diseases."