InflaRx announced today the closing of its funding, led by Affentranger Associates alongside bm-t (beteiligungsmanagement thüringen gmbh)

JENA, Germany | MARCH 17, 2009 | InflaRx announced today the closing of its funding, led by Affentranger Associates alongside bm-t (beteiligungsmanagement thüringen gmbh).

InflaRx GmbH was founded by its CEO, Prof. Niels C. Riedemann and its CSO, Prof. Renfeng Guo with programs aiming primarily at developing new therapeutic antibodies for the sepsis indication focusing on the complement system. Since inception, InflaRx has successfully completed three milestone-driven tranches of financing within its series A.

“Completing this large financing tranche in the middle of the current financial environment is a major achievement for our team. It reflects the strong commitment of our investors and the good development progress within the first year” says Prof. Riedemann, “We are now well financed to move our first project into clinical trials in the near future”.

InflaRx successfully developed its prototype monoclonal antibodies in partnership with Beijing Mabworks Biotech China. “This has been a tremendously well-working alliance of our proprietary know-how and the state-of-the-art performance of our Chinese partners” says InflaRx CSO Prof. Guo who has led the program on site.

“InflaRx has proven to be able to combine a cost-effective strategy with excellent development results. This allowed the company to receive the full support of its existing investors and to attract new investors despite the difficult market conditions” says Nicolas Fulpius, board chairman of InflaRx and Partner at Affentranger Associates. “We are glad to see this successful development of InflaRx. With its development of new therapeutics for the sepsis indication, InflaRx delivers a strong added-value to the fast growing sepsis hub in Jena” adds Dr. Guido Bohnenkamp, Managing Director of bm-t.

As of today, sepsis – also called blood poisoning in the public press – is the most frequent cause of death in non-cardiological intensive care units worldwide. With over 1.5 million cases in Europe and North America alone, and with mortality rates up to 50%, sepsis remains one of the largest and least publicly recognized unmet medical needs.

About InflaRx GmbH

Based in Jena, InflaRx is seated in a worldwide recognized sepsis research hub and collaborates with the Clinic of Anesthesiology and Intensive Care Therapy at the Friedrich-Schiller-University, the multicenter sepsis network SEPNET and the newly BMBF-funded Center for Innovation Competence Septomics. The Scientific Advisory Board of InflaRx is composed by two world leaders in the field of basic and clinical sepsis research with Prof. Peter Ward and Prof. Konrad Reinhart.

About Affentranger Associates SA

Incorporated in 2002, Affentranger Associates is a Switzerland based business platform focused on the theme of value creation and active management. As principal investor, the company has the ambition to achieve sustainable long-term returns by investing with a combination of management and capital in high-growth potential companies. Affentranger Associates has offices in Geneva and Zurich.

About bm-t beteiligungsmanagement thüringen gmbh

The bm-t acts as the management company of four Thüringen dedicated investment funds, the TI – Thüringer Innovationsfonds, VCT – Venture Capital Thüringen GmbH & Co. KG, TIB – Thüringer Industriebeteiligungs GmbH & Co. KG and the PET – Private Equity Thüringen GmbH & Co. KG. As of today, the bm-t manages a portfolio of almost 60 companies located in Thüringen (Germany) for a total of more than EURO 165M under management.

SOURCE: InflaRx GmbH