Vienna, April 6, 2006. Affiris (Vienna, Austria) raises EUR 8.5 million in series A round with MIG Funds (Munich, Germany) as sole investor. The milestone-based investment is split among three funds namely MIG Fonds 1 (EUR 1 million), MIG Fonds 3 and 4 (EUR 7.5 million).
Affiris was founded by two of Austria’s most experienced experts in the biotech field – Frank Mattner and Walter Schmidt – commencing its operations in April 2004. Richard Westmoreland completes the management team being responsible for finances. Schmidt furthermore is regarded as a pioneer of the new Austrian biotech scene as he together with Max L. Birnstiel and others founded Intercell in 1998, which is meanwhile listed on the Austrian Stock Exchange since February 2005.
Affiris develops tailor-made vaccines against diseases with unmet medical needs and highly attractive markets. The lead product development is a vaccine against Alzheimer´s disease. The vaccine AD-1 is based on the Affitope platform technology and is scheduled to enter into clinical trial phase I later this year. Pipeline projects are vaccines against Atherosclerosis and other indications.
CEO Walter Schmidt: “So far, our preclinical development was supported by our business angel Max L. Birnstiel and the Austrian institutions AWS – Austrian Business Service, FFG – Austrian Research Promotion Agency, ZIT – Center for Innovation and Technology and the WWFF – Vienna Business Agency. This financial support allowed us to develop the company such that we were able to acquire the MIG Funds as an investor that fully fits to our requirements. Together, we will launch our Alzheimer vaccine into the clinics and move forward our pipeline projects.” Michael Motschmann, chairman of MIG Funds: “We were immediately impressed by the excellent skills of the Affiris management team and the straight forward business model. The team knows exactly how to move innovative ideas quickly into product development.”
About MIG Funds:
The corporations “MIG AG & Co. Fonds 1 KG”, “MIG AG & Co. Fonds 3 KG” and “MIG AG & Co. Fonds 4 KG” – all located in Munich, Germany – are investing venture capital into innovative non-listed high technology companies in return for direct shares.
Editing:
Affiris GmbH
Contact:
PR&D – Public Relations for Research & Development
Campus Vienna Biocenter 2
A 1030 Vienna, Austria
T +43 1 505 70 44
F +43 1 505 50 83
E [email protected]
Vienna, 6th April 2006