Paragen Bio parachutes into $4.4m

Aug 14, 2018 •

James Cook University has formed its first spinout, Paragen Bio, which will commercialise autoimmune disease therapies derived from a blood-sucking tropical parasite.

Paragen Bio, an Australia-based autoimmune disease therapy spinout from James Cook University (JCU), secured A$6m ($4.4m) yesterday from investors including Australian government-backed Medical Research Commercialisation Fund (MRCF).

AbbVie Ventures, the corporate venturing arm of biopharmaceutical firm AbbVie, also supplied cash, as did Australian government-backed Healthcare Fund III, managed by VC firm OneVentures.

MRCF is managed by Brandon Capital and focuses on early-stage development of technologies emerging from Australia’s medical research institutes and affiliated research hospitals.

Paragen Bio is working on…

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