 |
|
|||||
|
||||||
        |
||||||
|
 |
|||||
|
|
|
|
|||
|
|
|||||
| Momenta Pharmaceuticals Secures $19 Million Series B Equity Financing | ||||||
| May 21, 2003 Momenta Pharmaceuticals Secures $19 Million Series B Equity Financing To Accelerate Drug Development and Commercialization Efforts Company Applies New Understanding of Complex Sugars to Drug Discovery and Development CAMBRIDGE, MA Ð May 21, 2003 - Momenta Pharmaceuticals, a leader in applying breakthroughs in the understanding of complex sugars to the discovery and development of drug products, announced today that it has raised $19 million in Series B private equity financing. Atlas Venture and MVM Life Science Partners co-led the financing which included prior investors, Polaris Venture Partners and Cardinal Partners. These Series B funds will be used to accelerate MomentaÕs commercial and research initiatives, while expanding its management and scientific team. Including this financing, Momenta has raised more than $25 million since its inception. "This financing is yet another step toward strengthening MomentaÕs financial position and allowing us to achieve our aggressive product development and company growth goals. Despite the challenging financing environment, we achieved our three key core objectives which were to attract additional high quality investors, to raise at least $15 million in capital, and to close an Ôup roundÕ reflecting the achievements of the company over this past year,Ó said Momenta Chairman and CEO Alan Crane. "With our strong team and proprietary product engine, we will continue to target both novel therapeutics and the improvement of existing products in the areas of thrombosis, oncology, therapeutic protein engineering, and non-invasive drug delivery." Momenta utilizes a novel, comprehensive, and highly integrated approach to characterize complex sugar molecules. By rapidly and precisely characterizing the chemical structure of complex sugars for the first time, MomentaÕs product engine provides new insight into the biological activity of sugars and the effects that specific changes in sugar structure have on key drug properties. With this insight, Momenta is able to decipher the specific roles that sugars play in human diseases and pursue a fundamentally new area of drug discovery and development. Momenta was founded in 2001, by MIT Professors Ram Sasisekharan and Robert Langer, Dr. Ganesh Venkataraman, and Momenta Vice Chairman Dr. Christoph Westphal of Polaris Venture Partners, based upon more than ten years of research completed at MIT. "Momenta is pioneering an important new arena of applied biology and drug discovery. We invested in Momenta because of the strength of product opportunities and the team they have put together to capitalize on these opportunities," said Stephen Reeders, CEO of MVM Life Science Partners. Peter Barrett, Senior Principal at Atlas Venture added, "We are thrilled to be working with MomentaÕs world-class team of scientists and experienced executives who are both developing novel drugs to address unmet medical needs and applying unique insights to dramatically improve existing therapeutics." This funding complements MomentaÕs ongoing focus on building a world class leadership team. MomentaÕs Board of Directors is comprised of founders, management, and investors as well as outside Directors, Bennett M. Shapiro, Executive Vice President and former head of research at Merck, Peter Hutt, former FDA Chief Counsel, and John Zabriskie, former CEO of Pharmacia & Upjohn. MomentaÕs Scientific Advisory Board is led by world-renowned physicians and glycobiology experts, including leading cardiologists Drs. Eugene Braunwald and Elliott Antman of the Brigham and WomenÕs Hospital, Dr. Judah Folkman of ChildrenÕs Hospital Boston, Dr. Frank Austen, Director of Inflammation and Allergic Diseases at the Brigham and WomenÕs Hospital, Professor Carolyn Bertozzi of the Department of Chemical Biology, University of California Berkeley, and Dr. Frank Bullock, former head of research at Schering-Plough. About Momenta Momenta Pharmaceuticals, Inc. is a leader in applying breakthroughs in understanding the chemistry and biology of complex sugars to the discovery, development, and commercialization of drug products. In its short history, Momenta has built a diversified pipeline of product candidates comprised of novel therapeutics and the application of its technology to existing products and molecules. MomentaÕs proprietary technology provides a more complete understanding of disease and drug action by enabling, for the first time, high throughput sequencing, precise chemical structure characterization, and engineering of complex sugars and glycosylated biomolecules. Founded in 2001, Momenta is headquartered in Cambridge, MA. Additional information is available on the companyÕs website, www.momentapharma.com. ### This press release contains archival information, which should not be considered current and may no longer be accurate. |
|
|||||
| Back: Press
Releases
|
||||||
|
|
|
||||
|
|
|
|
|||
