Published: April 05, 2010
Selecta Closes $15 Million Series C Financing
WATERTOWN, Mass. - (BUSINESS WIRE) - Selecta Biosciences, Inc., a biopharmaceutical company developing
synthetic nanoparticle vaccines, today announced that it has raised $15
million in a Series C financing round. OrbiMed Advisors LLC led the
round, with participation from existing investors Polaris Venture
Partners, Flagship Ventures, NanoDimension and Leukon Investments. The
Series C financing brings the total capital raised by Selecta over the
past 15 months to more than $30 million.
Proceeds from the Series C financing will be used to expand Selecta's
development of a new class of synthetic vaccines for prophylactic and
therapeutic indications based on the company's proprietary targeted
Synthetic Vaccine Particle (tSVP ) platform. The company's lead
product candidate will enter first-in-human clinical evaluation in 2011.
The tSVP platform is based on biodegradable polymeric
nanoparticles that fully-integrate all the vaccine components for
targeting to immune cells for optimal cellular or humoral immune
response.
"We are delighted by the strong investor interest in this Series C
financing which reflects the value created since our last round and
speaks volumes to the potential of Selecta's platform and product
pipeline," said Robert L. Bratzler, Ph.D., Executive Chairman of Selecta.
"This new financing will advance our breakthrough tSVP platform
and take our lead product candidate through the initial clinical proof
of concept evaluations," said Lloyd Johnston, Ph.D., Vice President of
Pharmaceutical Research and Development of Selecta.
"Selecta's tSVP platform enables the development of targeted and
fully integrated prophylactic and therapeutic vaccines and represents a
truly revolutionary platform with the potential to leapfrog existing
vaccine technologies," said Carl L. Gordon, Ph.D., founding General
Partner of OrbiMed. "We believe Selecta's synthetic nanoparticle
approach will have the potential to deliver safe and more effective
vaccines for a broad range of diseases."
In connection with this financing, Dr. Gordon of OrbiMed will join the
Board of Directors of Selecta, which is comprised of Robert Bratzler,
Ph.D., Executive Chairman, Selecta Biosciences; Douglas Cole, M.D.,
General Partner, Flagship Ventures; Omid Farokhzad, M.D., Selecta
Founder and Associate Professor, Harvard Medical School; Peter Hutt,
Senior Counsel, Covington & Burling LLP; Robert Langer, Sc.D., Selecta
Founder and Institute Professor, Massachusetts Institute of Technology;
Amir Nashat, Ph.D., General Partner, Polaris Venture Partners; Aymeric
Sallin, Managing Director and Founder, NanoDimension; and George Siber,
M.D., Former Executive Vice President and Chief Scientific Officer,
Wyeth Vaccines.
About Selecta Biosciences
Selecta Biosciences, Inc. is a biopharmaceutical company developing
first-in-class synthetic nanoparticle vaccines using its proprietary
targeted Synthetic Vaccine Particle (tSVP ) technology. The tSVP
platform enables full-integration of the key vaccine components,
antigens and adjuvants, for highly-effective targeting to immune cells
to produce an optimal immune response. The tSVP vaccines mimics
the structure of natural pathogens with regards to size, shape and the
sequence of immunological information that it delivers to immune cells,
thus harnessing the body's defense system to produce a robust immune
response. The unique attributes of full-integration, targeting and
natural structure conferred by the tSVP platform create synthetic
nanoparticle vaccines that are engineered for unprecedented safety and
efficacy. This novel approach enables expanded opportunities for tSVP
vaccines, and the company is pursuing opportunities across a range of
clinical applications, including infectious, metabolic, CNS and
inflammatory diseases.
Selecta was founded in 2008 by three academic pioneers in the fields of
nanotechnology and immunology: Professor Robert Langer (MIT), and
Professors Omid Farokhzad and Ulrich von Andrian (Harvard Medical
School). Selecta is backed by leading venture investors including,
Polaris Venture Partners, Flagship Ventures, NanoDimension, OrbiMed
Advisors and Leukon Investments. For more information please visit the
company website at www.selectabio.com.

The Yates Network
Adriana Jenkins, 617-744-1713
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