Fovea Pharma raises 30M euros

Forbion Capital Partners says that it has led a 30.0 million-euro ($44.1 million) series B financing of Fovea Pharmaceuticals, a French biopharmaceutical company developing novel therapeutics for the treatment of ophthalmic diseases.

Fovea plans to use the proceeds to advance its clinical and preclinical pipeline and further develop its technology platform. In 2008, the French firm expects to advance its FOV1101 program for chronic allergic conjunctivitis into Phase II clinical trials and to initiate Phase II studies of its FOV2302 and FOV2301 programs for the treatment of acute and diabetic macular edema respectively. The company expects to bring its fourth drug candidate, FOV2501, a protein discovered by company founder Jose-Alain Sahel's team, into clinical trials in the first half of 2009.

Bernard Gilly, chief executive of Fovea, said that "the company has made enormous progress and this financing will enable us to continue to advance our lead programs through later-stage clinical studies."