Glycotope Secures one of the Largest Financing Rounds in the European Biotech Sector

Glycotope GmbH, a leading company in glycobiology, has raised EUR 55 million in additional equity for the development of its two most advanced new cancer drugs, PankoMab-GEX(TM) and CetuGEX, both in Phase IIb trials. The money will be used to complete Phase IIb trials with several hundred patients in Europe and the US before the end of 2016. The company's investors, which have now provided total financing in excess of EUR 130 million, are Munich-based Jossa Arznei GmbH (Strüngmann Group) and ELSA GmbH (Eckert Life Science Accelerator) in Berlin.

In addition, Glycotope could secure the funding for final clinical development of its improved fertility hormone, FSH-GEX. The Phase III clinical trials are expected to begin in summer 2014 and to involve roughly 1,000 female patients at international clinics in Europe and about the same number in a further trial in the US. If the studies confirm the good results seen in the previous development phases, Glycotope could achieve worldwide approval for FSH-GEX as early as 2017.

"We are extremely encouraged with the confidence shown by our investors and by the fact that — thanks to these funding commitments — Glycotope is becoming one of Germany's largest independent biotech companies," commented Dr Steffen Goletz, CEO and founder of Glycotope. "Our innovative technologies for optimising sugar structures on proteins, among other things, enable us to increase the tolerability, effectiveness, and affordability of a large number of proven medications."