Circe Biomedical, Inc. Completes Management-Led Buyout and Closes $16.4 million in Private Financing Commitment
LEXINGTON, Mass.April 6, 1999Circe Biomedical, Inc., developer of the HepatAssist Liver Support System, announced today that it has completed a management-led buyout and has closed on a $16.4 million venture capital financing commitment. Now an independent, private company, Circe Biomedical was formerly a wholly owned subsidiary of W.R. Grace & Co.
Circe's HepatAssist System is the most clinically advanced liver support system being evaluated today and is currently being tested in a pivotal, Phase II/III clinical trial at 14 major medical centers throughout the U.S. and Europe. The HepatAssist System is an extracorporeal, bioartificial liver system designed to temporarily provide essential liver functions and sustain the metabolic functions of a healthy liver. When used to treat acute liver failure patients, the HepatAssist System may provide sufficient support for the patients to recover through their own liver regeneration or to be successfully bridged to emergency liver transplantation.
The private financing included investments from Polaris Venture Partners (Waltham, Massachusetts), Bessemer Venture Partners (Wellesley, Massachusetts), Advanced Technology Ventures (Waltham, Massachusetts), Spray Venture Partners (Boston, Massachusetts), BancBoston Ventures, Inc. (Boston, Massachusetts), and Mayo Medical Ventures (Rochester, Minnesota). "We are pleased to have the backing of this strong syndicate of institutional funds which has provided Circe with the resources required to maintain its leadership in the field of bioartificial liver support therapy and complete the clinical trial of the HepatAssist System," said Barry A. Solomon, Circe's newly appointed President. "We believe that the Hepatassist Liver Support System has the potential to become the future standard of care for the treatment of acute liver failure patients."
The HepatAssist System was developed in collaboration with the research team of Dr. Achilles A. Demetriou, Chairman of the Department of Surgery, and holder of the Ester and Mark Schulman Chair in Surgery and Transplantation Medicine at the Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles. The HepatAssist System incorporates Circe's proprietary technology in membrane bioreactors and mammalian cell cryopreservation. The clinical sites participating in Circe's clinical trial include: Cedars-Sinai Medical Center, University of North Carolina Medical Center, University of California at San Francisco, University of California at Los Angeles, University of Alabama, Rush Presbyterian Medical Center, University of Oregon Medical Center, and Columbia Presbyterian Hospital, as well as various key medical and liver transplant centers in Spain, Belgium, and Germany.
"Circe's liver support system holds the promise of keeping patients alive until their liver regenerates or until they receive a transplant. We are very excited about the opportunity to support a company with a technology that may potentially save thousands of lives," said Brian Chee of Polaris Venture Partners.
Circe Biomedical, Inc. is a privately held medical systems company that is committed to the development, production, and commercialization of bioartificial liver systems. Circe Biomedical, Inc. is located in Lexington, MA.
|
