Montréal, June 22, 2015 — Gladius Pharmaceuticals Inc., a Montréal-based biotechnology firm developing novel drugs to treat life-threatening, multi-drug-resistant bacterial infections, announced today the closing of a $4.1 million Series A financing. The round was led by Lumira Capital Investment Management via its Merck Lumira Biosciences Funds, with participation from Québec’s Fonds de solidarité FTQ and SR One which participated with funds from the GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) Canada Life Sciences Innovation Fund.
Gladius will build on discoveries made by Dr. Larry Sutton, MD, PhD, who pioneered dual mechanism small molecule antibiotics that combine antibiotic functionality with activity against one of the main causes of antibiotic resistance, beta-lactamase inhibition. “It is estimated that antibacterial resistance causes 23,000 deaths annually in the United States” stated Daniel Hétu, MD, Managing Director of Lumira Capital. “The Gladius technology is demonstrating strong promise to restore treatment options for resistant Gram-negative infections which have become a global challenge.”
"This investment is again the demonstration of Québec’s ability, based on its infrastructure, expertise and availability of deeply experienced capital sources, to build biotech companies contributing to job creation and economic impact in Québec," said Alain Denis, Senior Vice-President for New Economy at the Fonds de solidarité FTQ. "
"Gladius is a disruptive platform technology play, capable of developing multiple novel drug candidates,” stated Dr. Jens Eckstein, President of SR One. “This financing underscores GSK’s commitment to advance scientific innovation in Canada, and our mission to invest in early-stage companies.”
“We are delighted by the strong syndicate we have attracted to strengthen drug discovery and development against highly resistant infections, which respond to fewer and fewer drugs today” commented Michael Atkin CEO of Gladius.”
About Lumira Capital
Lumira Capital is a leading North American healthcare and life sciences venture capital firm.
Lumira Capital is currently actively investing from two funds: Lumira Capital II invests primarily in North American, clinical-stage biopharmaceutical, medical device, and healthcare IT companies. Merck Lumira Biosciences Fund is targeted to earlier stage investments in biopharmaceutical companies located in Quebec. Previous investments from this fund include Thrasos Therapeutics, enGene, OsteoQc and Formation Biologics. Successful investments from our previous fund include: KAI Pharmaceuticals (acquired by Amgen), Ception Therapeutics (acquired by Cephalon), Morphotek, (acquired by Eisai Co.), Argos Therapeutics (IPO), Guava (acquired by Millipore), Corus Pharma (acquired by Gilead Sciences), Depomed (public exit following PIPE), Ista (public exit following PIPE), Pharmasset (acquired by Gilead Sciences following IPO) and MAKO Surgical (acquired by Stryker following IPO). Lumira Capital’s portfolio companies are located throughout North America and we have partners in our offices in Toronto, Montreal and Boston. For more information visit the Lumira Capital website at www.lumiracapital.com.
About the Fonds de solidarité FTQ
The Fonds de solidarité FTQ helps drive our economy. With net assets of $10.5 billion as of November 30, 2014, the Fonds is a development capital fund that channels the savings of Quebecers into investments in all sectors of the economy to help create and maintain jobs and further Québec’s development. The Fonds is a partner, either directly or through its network members, in more than 2,450 companies. With more than 600,000 shareholder-savers, the Fonds helps create, maintain and protect more than 172,000 jobs. For more information, visit www.FondsFTQ.com.
About SR One
SR One is the independent corporate venture capital arm of GlaxoSmithKline. The firm invests globally in emerging life science companies that are pursuing innovative science, which will significantly impact medical, care. Since 1985, SR One has invested in more than 140 companies, and its current portfolio includes approximately 40 private and public companies. For more information, visit www.srone.com.
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Source: Gladius Pharmaceuticals Inc.
Contact information for reporters:
Gladius Pharmaceuticals Inc.
Michael Atkin, CEO
1.514.213.4456
michael@gladiuspharma.com
Lumira Capital
Daniel Hétu, Managing Director
1.514.844-6927
dhetu@lumiracapital.com
Fonds de solidarité FTQ
Patrick McQuilken, Senior Advisor, Media Relations and Communications
1.514.703.5587
pmcquilken@fondsftq.com
SR One
Jens Eckstein, President
1.617.401.2582
jens.eckstein@srone.com