HALIFAX, Nova Scotia, May 25, 2016 – Appili Therapeutics Inc., an anti-infective pharmaceutical development company, announced today it has raised $3,271,000 to advance the research and development of its anti-infective drug candidates and open a medicinal chemistry lab in Halifax.
“Completing this seed round of investment provides us with a solid base from which we can accelerate our growth,” said Kevin Sullivan, CEO of Appili Therapeutics. “I am proud of the team we have built to date and, with the addition of talented scientists and research capacity, we are ramping up our capacity to develop real solutions that address the growing health crisis posed by drug-resistant infections.”
Appili secured $1,764,000 from a number of private investors and $500,000 from Innovacorp, Nova Scotia’s early stage venture capital organization. Appili is also receiving support from the federal government.
The Government of Canada, through the Atlantic Canada Opportunities Agency (ACOA) and National Research Council Canada Industrial Research Assistance Program (NRC-IRAP), is providing $1,009,000 in combined support. ACOA is contributing $500,000 through a Business Development Program (BPD) repayable contribution and an additional $100,000 focused on productivity and business skills. In addition, the company will receive up to $409,000 in financial assistance and advisory services from NRC-IRAP to support this initiative.
“The Government of Canada is pleased to support Appili as they embark on the next phase of testing and development for this potentially global-scale, ground-breaking antibiotic. Investments in new therapeutics such as these play a significant role in the ongoing development of our research and innovation capacity,” said the Honourable Navdeep Bains, Minister of Innovation, Science and Economic Development and Minister responsible for ACOA and NRC-IRAP.
“Appili is led by an experienced team of industry experts,” said Dr. Lidija Marušić, life sciences investment manager at Innovacorp. “We are confident that the company, with support from Bloom Burton, is well positioned to combat drug resistant superbugs with its next generation of antibiotics.”
“As a co-founding shareholder and incubator, Bloom Burton & Co. is pleased to see Appili secure the start-up capital needed to advance development of its two antibiotic programs and move towards human clinical studies,” said Brian Bloom, chairman of the Appili Board of Directors and president of Bloom Burton & Co., a healthcare-specialized investment banking firm based in Toronto.
About Appili Therapeutics
Appili is dedicated to identifying, acquiring and advancing novel therapeutics for infectious disease. The company has two anti-infective programs, ATI-1501 and ATI-1503, in its pipeline. ATI-1501, a taste-masked treatment for Clostridium difficile infection, has just been granted orphan drug designation by the FDA and Appili plans to take it into clinical trials in 2017. Appili’s second product, ATI-1503, is a novel antibiotic with broad potential to treat deadly Gram-negative infections such as Klebsiella pneumoniae. These drug-resistant infections have been identified by the U.S. Center for Disease Control (CDC) as posing the highest threat to human health. Appili is co-founded and backed by the healthcare investment bank Bloom Burton & Co. For more information visit www.AppiliTherapeutics.com.
Bloom Burton Development Corp. is the founding entity of incubated companies, which includes Appili Therapeutics Inc. Any references made to Bloom Burton or Bloom Burton and Co. in this article is intended to be Bloom Burton Development Corp. and not any other entity within the Bloom Burton group of companies.
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