ISA Pharmaceuticals Secures EUR 8 Million Funding

LEIDEN, the Netherlands, January 7, 2013-- ISA Pharmaceuticals B.V., a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company focusing on rationally designed therapeutic vaccines against cancer and persistent viral infections, has today announced that it has raised EUR 8 million in a follow-on round from its existing investor base.

The proceeds will be used to fund a randomized Phase II clinical trial in cervical cancer with ISA’s lead program ISA-HPV, a therapeutic vaccine for pre-malignant diseases and cancers induced by human papilloma virus (HPV). Cervical cancer is the second most common cancer in women worldwide and is caused by HPV infection. The company has already demonstrated clinical efficacy of its HPV vaccine in a Phase II study in Vulvar Intraepithelial Neoplasia.

ISA’s vaccines are based on its proprietary synthetic long peptide (SLP®) vaccine platform. The company is currently advancing existing and new programs based on its SLP® vaccine platform in a number of cancers, including cervical carcinoma, as well as its groundbreaking proprietary toll-like receptor (TLR) ligand adjuvant technology.

Gerard Platenburg, Managing Director of ISA Pharmaceuticals, commented: ”The successful funding enables us to boost the further clinical development of our synthetic vaccine pipeline and our unique proprietary TLR adjuvant technology. With a total of EUR 20 million in private equity funding and the same amount from public grants, we have matured into a biotech company with a robust and clinically validated product pipeline and a leading-edge therapeutic vaccine platform.”

About ISA Pharmaceuticals

ISA Pharmaceuticals B.V. is a biopharmaceutical company developing rationally designed, fully synthetic therapeutic vaccines against cancer and persistent viral infections. The company´s proprietary synthetic long peptide (SLP®) and adjuvant technology platform permits the generation of safe and effective vaccines with a known mechanism of action. SLP® vaccines are broadly applicable to multiple targets and ideally suited as monotherapy or as essential components in combination with conventional cancer treatments.

Two SLP® vaccines are currently in clinical development: one against human papillomavirus (HPV) induced diseases and one against P53-overexpressing tumors. Clinical proof-of-concept has been established for ISA Pharmaceuticals’ HPV vaccine against Vulvar Intraepithelial Neoplasia (VIN), a pre-cancerous disease caused by HPV.

The company was founded in 2004 by Aglaia Oncology Fund and is based in Leiden, the Netherlands. For more information, please visit www.isa-pharma.com

Contact:
Dr. Ludger Wess
Managing Partner, akampion
Hamburg Office
T: +49 (0)40 88 16 59 64
F: +49 (0)40 88 16 59 65
ludger@akampion.com

Ines-Regina Buth
Managing Partner, akampion
Berlin Office
T: +49 (0)30 23632768
F: +49 (0)30 23632769
ines@akampion.com

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