Nanotechnology Now - Press Release: Selecta Closes $15 Million Series C Financing

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Abstract:
Company To Advance New Class of Synthetic Vaccines into Clinical Development based on targeted Synthetic Vaccine Particle (tSVP) platform

Selecta Closes $15 Million Series C Financing

Watertown, MA | Posted on April 5th, 2010

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.

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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.

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