Transdermal drug delivery co NeuroDerm raising $15m

An executive in a global chemicals company is leading the investment, alongside the company's current private investors, including Robert Taub.

16 July 12 17:50, Gali Weinreb

Sources inform ''Globes'' that transdermal drug delivery developer NeuroDerm Inc. is raising $15 million. An executive in a global chemicals company is leading the investment, alongside the participation of the company's current private investors, including Robert Taub, Prof. Shmuel Cabily, and Uwe Wascher. Taub founded Omrix Biopharmaceuticals, which he sold to Johnson & Johnson (NYSE: JNJ) for $438 million; Cabily invested the Cabily patent for the production of complex antibodies, which have generated hundreds of millions of dollars for Genentech (now a unit of Roche Holdings AG (SWX: ROG)), and Wascher is a former executive of General Electric (NYSE: GE).

NeuroDerm declined to comment on the report.

Capital Point Ltd. (TASE:CPTP) owns 34.8% of NeuroDerm, prior to the current investments. On the basis of Capital Point's financial report for 2011, NeuroDerm has a company value of NIS 135.5 million, and the current financing round is being held at a higher valuation.

NeuroDerm has three advanced clinical programs in two fields. It has two treatments for Parkinson's disease. One is a formulation for transdermal delivery in combination with current treatments for the disease which are currently delivered orally. The objective is to improve the efficiency of the drug's absorption by the blood stream in order to reduce dosages. The second treatment is for the transdermal delivery of a current drug to create a consistent level of the drug in the blood. It is necessary to take oral dosages of the drug to achieve specific improvements in the patient's condition at a given moment. This product has successfully undergone a Phase IIa clinical trial (initial efficacy trial).

NeuroDerm is also developing a nicotine and opipramol combination patch for the treatment ADHD. In contrast to the Parkinson's treatments, this is a new formulation that more closely resembles a new drug, rather than a new drug delivery method. The product has begun a Phase IIa clinical trial.

NeuroDerm once planned an IPO on the Tel Aviv Stock Exchange (TASE), but decided against the idea. Taub previously told "Globes" that the decision to forego an IPO was correct, and that he was glad the company was not public.

Published by Globes [online], Israel business news - www.globes-online.com - on July 16, 2012

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