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Phytobiotech announces $17.25 million investment
Second Round of Financing Completed
Montréal, September 24, 2002 - Phytobiotech Inc. announced today the closing of its second round of financing with a total investment of $17.25 million. With first time investments by lead investor SGF Santé, Investissement Desjardins, T2C2/BIO 2000 and a group of private investors, the financing also included existing shareholders Fonds de solidarité FTQ, Fonds Bioalimentaire and Innovatech du Grand Montréal.
“We are very pleased to have the partnership of these key investors in the continued development of our company,” said Dr. Jean Archambault, President and CEO of Phytobiotech Inc. “This investment in our company will allow us to accelerate our progress towards discovering new drugs. We are working on the early‑stage discovery of plant‑based molecules, which target cancer and infectious diseases, and this solid financial base will give us the resources to explore our library in greater depth and to prepare our molecules for pre‑clinical investigation.”
Phytobiotech has used its proprietary plant cell culture technologies to build its PurePhytoLib™ library, the world’s largest library of purified phytochemicals. Its core technology platform is focused on biosynthesizing, isolating and purifying these phytochemicals for use in the drug discovery process.
“Phytobiotech has one of the key elements for the future creation of value in biotechnology –a technology platform that has the capacity to generate a large number of therapeutic candidates,” said Dr. Francis Bellido, President and Chief Operating Officer of SGF Santé. “We see great potential for the growth of the company and for developing an interesting pipeline of therapeutics.”
About Plant‑based Molecules
Plants are recognized as an excellent source of medically important complex molecules. Currently, over 120 plant‑derived molecules are used around the world as drugs. Yet less than 8% of some 300,000 known plant species have been studied for their potential therapeutic value. Phytobiotech is focused on the discovery and development of this untapped source of novel, complex molecules.
About Phytobiotech Inc.
Phytobiotech Inc. is a biopharmaceutical company dedicated to the discovery, development and commercialization of novel plant‑derived drugs to treat infectious diseases and cancer. The Company uses its proprietary platform technologies to gain unprecedented access to the plant world’s enormous chemical diversity in order to identify novel, therapeutically important pharmaceuticals. The Company’s head office and research facilities are located in Laval (Montréal) Québec, Canada.
About SGF Santé
SGF Santé is a subsidiary of the Société générale de financement du Québec whose mission is to carry out economic development projects meeting normal profitability requirements, in collaboration with business partners. Since it was restructured in 1998, SGF has generated investments of about $4.4 billion, creating over 19,400 direct and indirect jobs in the operating phase, not counting the thousands of jobs created during the construction phase. As at September 2001, SGF’s consolidated assets totaled $2.9 billion. SGF has 57 international partners operating in Québec. (sgfqc.com)
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Source :
Jean Archambault, Ph.D.
President & CEO
Phytobiotech Inc.
Tel: x224
Nathalie Bourque
National Public Relations
Tel:
Richard Gauthier
Vice-President Corporate Development
Phytobiotech Inc.
Tel: x222
Sylvie Brousseau
Director of Communications
SGF Santé
Tel:
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