Australian VC firms back Spinifex Pharmaceuticals
GBS Venture Partners, Brandon Capital Partners, Uniseed Management and UniQuest have participated in the Series B round of financing for Spinifex Pharmaceuticals. The Australian drug development company raised a total of $19 million, $6.5 million more than its original target.
The funds will be put toward phase-two clinical trials for Spinifex's pain management drug, EMA401. The trials will focus on using EMA401 to treat pain and hypersensitivity in peripheral nerve injury patients and cancer chemotherapy patients. The market for neuropathic pain treatments is currently underserved but expected to be worth $6.2 billion globally by 2017.
GBS Venture Partners invests in growth companies, particularly in the healthcare, biotech and life science segments. The Australian firm has $400 million in assets under management and is currently making $10-12 million investments from its $125 million GBS Bioventures IV fund. In August 2010, it participated in the Series A round for Pathway Therapeutics, a New Zealand company that is working on a breast cancer drug.
Brandon Capital Partners also targets seed and venture capital investments in the life science industry, while UniQuest has made numerous biotech deals under its remit to commercialize research by companies specializing in global technology transfer.
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