Finnish drug discovery company raises euro18.4m

Investee Company – Hormos Medical (Finland)

Investee Company Business Type – Drug discovery and development company focused on finding therapies for hormonal-based diseases.

Type of Financing – Expansion

Equity Providers – BankInvest, H&B Advisors, Sitra and Bio Fund Management Oy

Equity Leader (Individual) – Professor Jesper Zeuthen, Dr Lars Gatenbeck

Debt Providers – N/A

Debt Type – N/A

Debt Leader (Individual) – N/A

Equity Amount – euro18.4 million

Total Deal Value – euro18.4 million

Other Advisors – Hormos Medical – Alfred Berg and Handelsbank, BankInvest & H&B Advisors. Legal: Ulf-Henrik Kull from Roschier-Holmberg. Financial: Ernst &Young Finland

Comments – Finnish drug discovery company, Hormos Medical, has received euro18.4 million in its third round of funding since its inception in 1997. BankInvest and H&B Capital, managed by H&B Advisors, led the round and were joined by previous investors Sitra and Bio Fund Management Oy.

The two lead investors committed euro13.5 million with the balance being provider by excisting investors. Claus Braestrup from H.Lundbeck A/S will join the company’s board on behalf of BankInvest and Lars Gatenbeck, managing director of H&B Capital, will join as its representative.

Hormos Medical’s main focus is on discovering and developing novel pharmaceutical products. The company develops steroid hormonal therapies for age related diseases such as Alzheimer’s disease, osteoporosis and male urinary dysfunction.

Managing director of BankInvest’s BioVenture, Professor Jesper Zeuthen commented: “We are excited to follow the development of the two drug candidates already in phase II clinical trials. Ospemifene, a product for prevention and treatment of osteoporosis foreseen to offer better characteristics than current available similar drugs. And Finrozole with promises to be a quite novel concept of treating male lower urinary dysfunction, a hitherto unsolved problem.”