Ontario Capital Growth Corporation gains $19m as Affinium Pharmaceuticals is acquired by Swiss biopharmaceutical Debiopharm International.
Affinium Pharmaceuticals, a US-based biotechnology company backed by the Ontario Capital Growth Corporation, has been acquired by Debiopharm International, a Switzerland-based biopharmaceutical company.
The Ontario Capital Growth Corporation received $19m from the acquisition, more than three times its initial investment in the company when it took part in Affinium’s $15m series B round in August 2011 with Canada-based Genesys Capital Management, UK-based SV Life Science Advisors and US-based Forward Ventures Partners.
The Ontario Capital Growth Corporation is an agency of the Ontario Ministry of Research and Innovation.
Affinium also raised $11.9m in debt financing in September 2013, $18.9m in debt financing in August 2011 and $18m in an undisclosed round in May 2010.
Owen Roberts, chief financial officer for Affinium, said: “Ontario Capital Growth Corporation’s investment played a crucial role in moving the project forward from early clinical trials to phase two proof-of-concept. That’s when we were able to get the attention of major pharmaceutical companies like Debiopharm.”
Affunium worked on creating anti-infective medicines.
