Follica Raises $5.5 M To Advance New Treatment for Androgenetic
Alopecia Into the Clinic
Jan 4 2008, 4:00 AM EST
PRNEWSWIRE
BOSTON, Jan. 4 /PRNewswire/ -- Follica Inc., a privately held
developer of a novel therapy for androgenetic alopecia (male and
female pattern hair loss caused by androgens in genetically
susceptible men and women) and other hair follicle disorders, today
announced a $5.5 million Series A financing round. Interwest Partners
led the financing and existing investors PureTech Ventures
participated. The funding is expected to take the company through a
clinical proof of concept study. Follica was co-founded by PureTech
Ventures and a group of academic dermatologists from leading
institutions such as Harvard, UCSF and the University of Pennsylvania
to address the critical issue of alopecia.
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"There is a great need for novel therapies; androgenetic alopecia
begins as early as the teenage years or twenties, and affects about
half the men and women in the United States by the age of 50," noted
Vera Price MD, co-founder of the National Alopecia Areata Foundation,
the Cicatricial Alopecia Research Foundation, Director of the
University of California, San Francisco (UCSF) Hair Research Center
and a Co-founder of Follica Inc.
In a paper published earlier this year in the top tier scientific
journal Nature, technology licensed by Follica from the University of
Pennsylvania School of Medicine was used to generate completely new
hair follicles for the first time in normal adult mammals. "After
skin disruption, adult epidermal stem cells that do not normally make
hair follicles are reprogrammed to respond to signals instructing
them to make hair," says George Cotsarelis MD, Albert M. Kligman
Associate Professor at the University of Pennsylvania, a leading
epithelial stem cell biologist, and Follica Co-founder. The new hair
follicles function normally, cycle through the normal stages of hair
growth and exhibit normal architecture, including a full complement
of stem cells.
Chris Ehrlich, Partner at Interwest Ventures, will join existing
board members Ronald Cape (PureTech Partner, founder of Cetus, former
Board Member Neutrogena) and Daphne Zohar (Follica CEO, Founder &
Managing Partner of PureTech Ventures).
"Our technologies for creating and manipulating hair follicles
position us to treat, and perhaps eventually cure, androgenetic
alopecia, other hair loss conditions, and related follicular
disorders such as acne," said Dr. Rox Anderson, Professor of
Dermatology at Harvard Medical School, Director of the Wellman Center
for Photomedicine at Massachusetts General Hospital, and Co- founder
and Scientific Advisory Board Chair of Follica. Anderson invented and
developed laser hair removal and infrared confocal laser microscopy,
and has made important contributions to photodynamic therapy and
tattoo removal.
About InterWest Partners:
InterWest Partners (www.interwest.
diversified venture capital firm focused on building long-term
relationships with entrepreneurs and portfolio companies. Currently
investing its ninth fund (IW IX), a $600 million fund, InterWest has
raised more than $2 billion of capital since inception. InterWest has
fifteen investing partners in Menlo Park, CA, and Dallas, TX, who
bring together deep domain knowledge in life sciences and information
technology.
The firm's investments in life sciences include: Aspreva
Pharmaceuticals Corporation (ASPV), Corixa (CRXA; acquired by
GlaxoSmithKline, GSK), Epicor Medical (acquired by Saint Jude
Medical, STJ), Inspire Pharmaceuticals (ISPH), IntraLase (ILSE;
acquired by Advanced Medical Optics, EYE), Myogen (MYOG; acquired by
Gilead, GILD), Spinal Dynamics (acquired by Medtronic, MDT) and
TheraSense (THER; acquired by Abbott Labs, ABT).
About Follica
Follica Inc., a privately held medical device company, was co-founded
by PureTech Ventures and a group of world renowned experts in hair
follicle biology and medicine. In addition to hair loss, Follica has
intellectual property and development programs in various skin and
follicle related indications. www.follicabio.
About PureTech Ventures
PureTech Ventures is a Boston-based venture creation firm
specializing in translating breakthrough research from top tier
academic institutions into therapies that will impact human health.
PureTech's Partners include entrepreneurs and leaders from the top
echelon of pharma, biotech and academia including Dr. Ronald Cape
(founder, Cetus), Dr. Robert Langer (renowned MIT professor), Dr.
Frank Douglas (former Chief Scientific Officer, Aventis), Dr. Bennett
Shapiro (former EVP Worldwide Basic and External Research, Merck),
and Dr. John Zabriskie (former CEO Pharmacia & Upjohn), and Daphne
Zohar (PureTech Founder and Managing Partner).
SOURCE Follica Inc.
http://www.genengne
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