Press Releases

PanGenetics BV Closes $2m Seed Financing from Index Ventures

Company announces Kevin Johnson as CEO and Duncan Casson as COO

Geneva, Switzerland and Utrecht, The Netherlands (September 8, 2005) - PanGenetics BV, a company devoted to the development of therapeutic antibodies, today announced the closing of a $2 million seed round led by Index Ventures, a European venture capital firm with offices in Geneva and London. The financing coincides with the appointment of Index venture partner Kevin Johnson as chief executive officer and Duncan Casson as chief operating officer, with David Thomas, Jim Larrick and Randy Noelle joining the scientific advisory board.

The funds provide PanGenetics with the resources to progress its CD40 antagonist monoclonal antibody towards an IND filing in autoimmune disorders in late 2006, as well as maturing the other monoclonal antibodies in its pipeline.

"PanGenetics is in a great position," said Francesco De Rubertis, Index Ventures general partner, who joins the PanGenetics board as chairman. According to Mark de Boer, a founder of PanGenetics, the antibody marketplace represents a truly vast opportunity for companies that are able to assemble a seasoned management team. "We aim to put to good use the encouraging clinical data we already have on our lead molecule and to add to our development pipeline with other monoclonal antibodies," he said.

PanGenetics Appoints New CEO and COO

Index Ventures Venture Partner Kevin Johnson, former research head and chief technology officer of Cambridge Antibody Technology, succeeds de Boer as Acting CEO. Additionally, Duncan Casson, formerly VP of program management and manufacturing at Cambridge Antibody Technology, joins the company as chief operating officer. De Boer and Jeff Price, founders of PanGenetics, have been appointed to the new board of directors as Non-Executive members.

Kevin Johnson graduated in Molecular Biology and holds a PhD from Cambridge University. He led the team that produced Humira™, the first fully human therapeutic antibody to reach the market, and was part of the management team that floated CAT plc on the London Stock Exchange in 1997.

About PanGenetics BV

PanGenetics is headquartered in Utrecht, The Netherlands with an operations base located near Cambridge in the UK. The company employs a lean business model with most development activities outsourced to specialist providers. The most advanced candidate is a CD40 antagonist that has already shown promise in an open label phase Ib/IIa Crohns study.
http://www.pangenetics.com

About Index Ventures

Index Ventures is a European venture capital firm active in technology venture investing since 1996. The firm is dedicated to helping top entrepreneurial teams both in the Life Science and Information Technology sectors build their companies into global leaders. Index proactively seeks out entrepreneurs who are committed to solving real problems with a novel approach and help them develop their company by leveraging the combined experience, networks and resources of the entire partnership. The firm has offices in Geneva, London and Jersey and focuses its investment activity primarily on Europe and Israel. Life science investments include Genmab, Hamilton, BioXell, Parallele Biosciences and 7TM. Information technology investments include Betfair, now the world's largest betting exchange; Virata, (acquired by Conexant) a world leader in DSL and other communication chipsets; Skype (global P2P telephony service); MySQL (the world's most popular open source database); and KVS (email archiving firm recently sold to Veritas).
http://www.indexventures.com.

For more information, contact:
Daniela Reif, Sparkpr for Index Ventures, 415-962-8200 x204