ProtAffin completes 14M-euro financing, helped by GSK fund

Graz, Austria-based ProtAffin AG, a biotechnology company developing a novel class of biopharmaceutical products that act by targeting  cell-surface glycan structures, has completed a 14.1-million euro ($18.4  million) series B financing round. The equity financing was co-led by  Atlas Venture and SR One, the corporate venture fund of UK drug giant  GlaxoSmithKline. Existing investors Aescap Venture, Entrepreneurs Fund  and Z-Cube also participated in the financing. Regina Hodits of Atlas  Venture and Deborah Harland of SR One will join ProtAffin's supervisory  board.

The proceeds will be used to complete the preclinical development and  Phase I testing of ProtAffin's lead anti-inflammatory product, PA401, a  modified form of the human chemokine IL-8/CXCL8 that has shown  anti-inflammatory activity in both chronic and acute preclinical models.  A patent covering PA401 was granted this year in the European Union. The  company also plans to nominate further pipeline programs for formal  preclinical development in the future and to broaden application of its  CellJammer discovery platform in the field of oncology.