Evolution Venture Partners facilitates $50 Million Investment for Precision Biologics
Los Angeles – October 19, 2015 — Evolution Venture Partners announces that it acted as financial advisor to Precision Biologics, Inc., a privately held, biopharmaceutical company developing tumor-specific monoclonal antibodies (mAbs) and companion diagnostics to treat solid-tumor cancers. NantWorks, LLC, and it’s ecosystem of next generation healthcare entities focusing on the discovery and development of immunology-based innovative treatments for diseases at the molecular level, today announced a $50 million equity investment in Precision Biologics, Inc.
“Evolution Venture Partners was invaluable to Precision Biologics in this transaction. Evolution’s knowledge, professionalism and their disciplined process allowed us to find the ideal investment partner. Their impressive set of relationships in the financial community as well as their understanding of the nuances of our company and knowledge in the biotech space made them the perfect advisor for us,” said Philip M. Arlen, M.D., chief executive officer of Precision Biologics.
“Precision Biologics has a promising novel pipeline of therapeutic antibody candidates that target advanced pancreatic and colorectal cancers in clinical trials, as well as a companion diagnostics program that determines which patients are candidates to receive treatment,” said Patrick Soon-Shiong, M.D., founder and chief executive officer of NantWorks. “Based on a proprietary library of cancer vaccines, antigens and antibodies, the company has developed a portfolio of truly unique antibody therapies, which activate an immune response that are tumor and disease specific. The mission at Nantworks is the pursuit of neo-epitope driven immunotherapy for cancer. This investment furthers our mission to treat the biology of cancer, independent of the anatomy, and avoid the devastating toxic effects of standard chemotherapy while activating mankind’s innate immune protective system. With a highly experienced management and scientific team, the company will complement NantWorks approach to this paradigm shift in the molecular interrogation and treatment of cancer.”
Precision Biologics is leveraging its proprietary library of cancer vaccines to accelerate innovation. By marrying this platform with breakthrough diagnostic and immunotherapy technologies available at Nantworks and NantOmics, the company is now able to develop compounds that could change the way we detect and treat cancer. For its lead therapeutic antibody candidate, the company recently completed accrual to a Phase 2a clinical trial for advanced pancreatic and colorectal cancer. In addition a multi-center randomized Phase 2b trial for advanced pancreatic cancer is currently enrolling patients at several well-known academic medical centers in the US. The therapeutic antibody candidate for pancreatic cancer has demonstrated promising early phase 2 data and received Orphan Drug status. The company’s pipeline also includes two additional novel, proprietary antibodies, both of which bind to tumor-specific antigens found in pancreatic, colorectal and several other types of cancer.
“The antibodies we are developing are derived from proprietary cancer vaccines isolated from surgically removed human tumors,” said Dr. Arlen. “The investment from Nantworks provides the resources that will allow for the continued development of our lead novel antibodies for pancreatic and colorectal cancers, as well as the identification of additional novel antibodies for other cancers. We are extremely pleased and fortunate to collaborate and be associated with Dr. Soon-Shiong and the NantWorks family of companies. We share a vision to improve cancer care through precision medicine.”
Evolution Venture Partners acted as sole financial advisor to Precision Biologics in connection with this transaction.
About Evolution Venture Partners
Evolution Venture Partners is an investment banking and merchant banking boutique focused on biotechnology, life sciences and healthcare companies & specializes in capital raising, mergers & acquisitions, and strategic partnering. Evolution Venture Partners provides insightful strategic advice to healthcare companies with special emphasis on drug development therapeutic, medical device therapeutic and diagnostics companies. Their network of strong relationships with venture capital funds, hedge funds, crossover funds and corporate strategics empowers healthcare companies to achieve transformative outcomes. For more information go to http://www.evovp.com.
About Precision Biologics
Founded in February 2012 and commencing business in late September 2012, Precision Biologics is a clinical stage biotechnology corporation focused on developing therapeutic and diagnostic products for the early detection and treatment of cancer. The company’s antibody drug candidates and diagnostics are designed to detect and target the tumor without destroying healthy cells. Precision Biologics is uniquely positioned to create innovative therapeutics through the use of proprietary cancer vaccines, several of which have demonstrated success in human trials. By marrying this platform with today’s breakthrough technologies, the company is developing antibody therapeutics that could change the way cancer is detected and treated.
About NantWorks
NantWorks, LLC, founded by renowned physician scientist and inventor of the first human nanoparticle chemotherapeutic agent Abraxane®, Dr. Patrick Soon-Shiong, is the umbrella organization for the following entities: NantHealth, NantMobileHealth, NantOmics, NantBio, NantCell, NantPharma, NantCapital and NantCloud. Fact-based and solution-driven, each of NantWorks’ division entities operates at the nexus of innovation and infrastructure.
The core mission of NantWorks is convergence and a systems approach to human biology: to develop and deliver a diverse range of technologies that accelerates innovation, broaden the scope of scientific discovery, enhance ground-breaking research, and improve healthcare treatment for those in need.
NantWorks is building an integrated fact-based, genomically and proteomically -informed, personalized approach to the delivery of care and the development of next generation diagnostics and therapeutics for life threatening diseases such as Cancer, Infectious Diseases and Alzheimer’s. For more information please www.nantworks.com and follow Dr. Soon-Shiong on Twitter@solvehealthcare.
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