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(January 22, 2008, Shanghai) NovaMed Pharmaceuticals Inc, a
China-based provider of outsourced development and
commercialization services for leading global and local
pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies, announced today that
it has secured $13.8 million in a Series B round of funding,
bringing the total raised in one year to nearly $20 million. The
fund was led by newly involved investors, Fidelity Asia Ventures
and its US affiliate, Fidelity Biosciences, with participation
from returning investor Atlas Venture.
Founded in 2005, NovaMed offers a broad range of services to
leading international pharmaceutical and biotechnology firms in
China, which is today's foremost target for global drug
development and commercial growth. These services include
facilitating the outsourcing of clinical research to China,
registering unique and new chemical entities for the China
market, as well as commercializing and distributing products for
multinationals in China. NovaMed's unique business model allows
international drug brands to realize both significant cost
advantages and the full potential of China's pharmaceutical
market, where a 16.3% annual growth rate is predicted,
overtaking the country's overall healthcare spending. The
additional funding reflects global investors' increasing
excitement and recognition of the growth potential of the China
market.
Over just the past few months, NovaMed has entered into a number
of strategic alliances with multinational pharmaceutical
companies in China including Sanofi-Aventis, Baxter and Meda,
thereby expanding and strengthening its product lines in
oncology, diabetes, respiratory, urology and central nervous
system diseases. NovaMed's services for pharmaceutical
multinationals, supported by a network of best-in-class
research, development, regulatory, and distribution partners in
China, work to accelerate drug development and approval
processes of Western-based drugs to benefit China's patients and
medical professionals.
Mark Lotter, CEO and co-founder of NovaMed, commented, ˇ°Series B
funding marks a significant milestone in NovaMed's business
development in China. It allows us to continually expand and
strengthen our portfolio in a number of important therapeutic
areas as well as playing an increasingly stronger role in
China's drug development landscape.ˇ± He added, ˇ°We are thrilled
to have our new top tier investors, Fidelity Asia Ventures and
Fidelity Biosciences, on board in addition to the continued
support from our first institutional investor, Atlas Venture.
The enthusiasm and interest from our new and existing investors
represents a vote of confidence in our strategic and unique
approach to China's fast-growing pharmaceutical market.ˇ±
Proceeds from Series B funding will be used to finance the in
licensing of new molecules for China, expand sales and
distribution operations, as well as strengthen medical research
and development capacity.
Norman Chen, Partner at Fidelity Asia Ventures said, "Fidelity
Asia Ventures and Fidelity Biosciences are delighted to have the
opportunity to invest in NovaMed, which we see as the leader in
the China specialty pharmaceutical industry. We look forward to
utilizing our global life sciences expertise to further refine
and develop NovaMed's platform of high-quality, proprietary
drugs for China. We are committed to working with NovaMed to
bring this exciting business to its next stage of development."
According to Zina Affas, Principal at Atlas Venture, "NovaMed
has continued to demonstrate effective execution capabilities
through in-licensing of further programs from multinationals.
This has allowed the rapid raising of a Series B investment
following our Series A investment in May 2007. Our continued
support for the company through investment in the Series B
demonstrates our strong belief in the capabilities of the team
and the potential of the company to develop and deliver products
to the Chinese market.ˇ± She continued, ˇ°We have utilized our
worldwide life sciences capabilities to help NovaMed to grow and
are delighted to be joined by Fidelity Asia Ventures and
Fidelity BioSciences who, as well as supporting the company
financially, have already brought their local and global
expertise to the company. We look forward to working with
NovaMed to help to create a leading specialty pharmaceutical
company in China.ˇ±
Bo Shao, Chairman and Co Founder added, ˇ°We are very excited to
move forward with this outstanding team, drawing on Fidelity
Asia Ventures' unmatched investment and industry experience in
China, and the extensive life science expertise of both Fidelity
Biosciences and Atlas Venture. We are confident that with our
unique approach and their valuable guidance, NovaMed will
sustain its rapid growth in 2008, continuing to lead and drive
development of the specialty pharmaceutical industry in China.ˇ±
ABOUT NOVAMED
NovaMed Pharmaceuticals was founded in August 2005 to provide
one-stop-shop service for global pharmaceutical companies and
brand owners looking to leverage cost advantage and achieve
optimal market potential in China. Through a directly managed
sales organization of 300 people strong and growing and an
exclusive network of best-in-class research, development,
regulatory and distribution partners, NovaMed has built viable
commercialization models for products at different stages of
their life cycle. These include products already commercially
available in China, internationally approved products not yet
registered in China, and in-license late stage development
compounds. For more information, visit
www.novamed.com.cn
ABOUT ATLAS VENTURE
Atlas Venture is a leading early-stage international venture
capital firm that invests in technology and life sciences
businesses in the U.S., Europe and Asia. Since inception in
1980, its partners have helped build over 300 companies in more
than 15 different countries. Since 1990, 44 portfolio companies
have been acquired and 40 are now public companies with an
aggregate market capitalization of over $12 billion. Atlas
Venture is currently investing from its seventh fund and manages
over $2.5 billion in capital through offices in Boston, London,
Munich, and Paris. Atlas Venture's life sciences team has been
an early investor in close to 100 biotechnology, pharmaceutical
and medical device companies. The active portfolio comprises
approximately thirty-five life sciences companies today and
several new investments are made each year, from seed stage to
pre-IPO stage. Atlas Venture's past life sciences investments
include companies such as Actelion Pharmaceuticals (SWX: ATLN);
Alnylam Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ: ALNY); Crucell (NASDAQ: CRXL);
deCODE genetics (NASDAQ: DCGN); Exelixis (NASDAQ: EXEL); Momenta
(NASDAQ: MNTA) MorphoSys (Frankfurt: MOR); Newron (SWX: NWRN)
and Renovo (LSE: RNVO). For more information, visit
www.atlasventure.com
ABOUT FIDELITY ASIA VENTURES
Fidelity Asia Ventures (FAV) is the Asian venture and growth
capital arm of Fidelity International Ltd. (FIL), a part of the
global Fidelity investment organization. FAV is among the
earliest and most successful institutional investors in private,
growth companies in China and has actively invested
predominantly FIL proprietary capital in both the information
technology and healthcare sectors throughout Asia for nearly 14
years, with a longstanding focus on China. More recently it has
established a substantial capital pool for investment in growing
private companies in India. FAV's current mission is to invest
principally in high-quality, high-growth companies broadly in
the information technology, healthcare and consumer sectors in
China and India. FAV's investment teams in Hong Kong, Beijing,
Shanghai and Mumbai are among the most experienced in the
Asia-Pacific region. Current investments and recent exits
include: Alibaba Holdings, Pharmanex (Acquired by Nu Skin NYSE:
NUS), Wuxi PharmaTech (NYSE: WX), Hurray! (NASDAQ: HRAY),
Linktone (NASDAQ: LTON), AsiaInfo (NASDAQ: ASIA), Dianji
Technology, CDP, Datuu, Xunlei, Isoftstone and Asia Renal Care
(acquired by Bumrungrad International). For more information,
please visit:http://www.fidelityasiaventures.com
ABOUT FIDELITY BIOSCIENCES
Fidelity Biosciences invests venture capital in private
biopharmaceutical and medical technology companies. We are a
division of Fidelity Investments, one of the world's leading
providers of financial services. For more than 30 years,
Fidelity Investments has been a significant presence in the
venture capital and private equity industry, investing the
firm's own capital since 1969. This provides us with the
flexibility and capabilities of traditional venture capital
firms while eliminating the additional pressures of fundraising.
The result is a clear focus on building long-term value for
Fidelity, our management partners, and co-investors. We are
engaged investors and board members, seeking to add value by
providing strategic guidance and assistance to management
throughout the process of building successful businesses. We
possess the energy and entrepreneurial spirit of a start-up
enterprise, while bringing to bear the considerable strengths
and resources of Fidelity Investments. For more information,
please visit:
http://www.fidelitybiosciences.com |
January
22th, 2008