BiolineRX Ltd. (TASE:BLRX) and Canada’s Pan Atlantic Bank and Trust Ltd. have set up a joint $6 million fund to support early development programs (EDP). BiolineRX will invest $1 million in the new fund and Pan Atlantic Bank will invest $5 million. The companies intend to invest in 8-10 projects in fields related to BiolineRX. The announcement was made at ILSI-Biomed Israel 2007 in Tel Aviv, organized by Israel Life Sciences Industry.
Pan Atlantic Bank, owned by Albert Dov Friedberg, invested $9 million in BiolineRX at its IPO.
BiolineRX will have first refusal rights to invest in the ventures supported by the fund, and it will include a clause in the initial financing contract setting out the investment terms. The idea is for the grants to bring the recipient companies from the stage of laboratory testing to the animal tests stage.
BiolineRX CFO Yuri Shoshan said that the fund resembled the Nufar fund of the Office of the Chief Scientist, in the sense that the fund brings together industry and academic researchers to collaborate in a project’s initial stages. In addition, the fund allows the companies not only use the money within the universities, but also to buy testing and experiment services from external suppliers.
Published by Globes [online], Israel business news - www.globes.co.il - on June 5, 2007
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