Polyplus-transfection SA, an Illkirch, France-based company that focuses on the development of innovative solutions for the delivery of nucleic acids in research and therapeutics, completed a €2.5m funding round.
Investors include new shareholders AIRFI (Alsace Inter Regio Fonds d’Investissement) and Sudinnova, which have invested €1m and €0.5m, respectively. Existing shareholders CIC Vizille Capital Innovation and CIC Finance also participated in the round.
The company intends to use the funding to expand its research and development activities in the area of new compounds dedicated to siRNA delivery, which recently obtained promising preclinical results in lung and prostate cancer models.
These programs are additional to those in which Polyplus-transfection is already actively engaged in the area of RNA interference through partnerships with other biotechnology companies and university laboratories. In its joint programs with third parties, Polyplus-transfection acts as a specialist in in-vivo intracellular nucleic acid transfer, a critical step to develop a therapy based on RNA interference.
The funding will also enable the company to recruit an additional 10 researchers and laboratory technicians in the short term, which will increase the total to 25, out of a total workforce of 40.
FinSMEs
11/01/2011