Cell ID co NST raises $5m

The financing round was held at a company value of $70 million.

20 November 06 11:17, Gali Weinreb

Sources inform ''Globes'' that NST - NeuroSurvival Technologies Ltd. has raised $5 million from Meditech, a new investor in the company. The financing round was held at a company value of $70 million, the same value at which the company raised over $10 million from its existing investors, Teva Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd. (Nasdaq: TEVA; TASE: TEVA) and Profimex Fund this year. Teva has invested several million dollars in the company, and Profimex is run by Teva chairman Eli Hurvitz, who also serves as chairman of NST.

Other investors in NST include Clal Biotechnology Industries Ltd. (CBI), Polar Communications Ltd. (TASE: PLRC), Israel Phoenix Assurance Ltd. (TASE: PHOE1;PHOE5) through Atara Technology Ventures , Technorov Holdings Ltd., Johnson & Johnson Development Corp., I.D Federman Holdings Ltd., and Docor International BV (a fund of the Van Leer Institute). Over $20 million has been invested in NST to date.

NST has developed a method for identifying cells undergoing apoptosis, a stage of cell death. The company has developed a family of molecules designed to locate and attach to apotosis cells but not attach to healthy cells. On the basis of this discovery, the company has developed in two directions: diagnostics, where it is operating independently, and therapeutics, where it has a cooperation agreement with Teva, signed nine months ago. Sources said that NST’s first diagnostic product was already undergoing stage I clinical trials.

Published by Globes [online], Israel business news - www.globes.co.il - on November 20, 2006

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