Mont-Saint-Guibert, Belgium, May 8, 2013 –The Belgian biotechnology company, Cardio3 BioSciences (C3BS), a leader in the discovery and development of regenerative, protective and reconstructive therapies for the treatment of cardiac diseases, announces that it has increased its equity by €19 million through a private placement with existing investors. The new funds will be used to finance the on-going clinical development of the Company’s lead product, C-Cure®, currently tested in Europe in a Phase III trial (CHART-1 – Congestive Heart failure Cardiopoietic Regenerative Therapy) and the preclinical development of other product candidates. CHART-1 is the world’s first phase III trial using pre-programmed cardiac progenitor cells and targeting heart failure
Of the €19 million raised, €7 million is in new equity committed by existing investors with €12 million resulting from the conversion of existing convertible loans. The formal capital increase was approved at a shareholder meeting and is expected to complete by the end of May 2013.
C3BS’ C-Cure is a unique therapy that allows the reprogramming of bone marrow cells into ‘cardiopoïetic’ cells with the aim of growing new heart tissue thereby repairing damaged heart muscle. The cardiopoietic cells are injected into the patient’s heart through a minimally invasive procedure using a proprietary catheter called C-Cath®ez.
C-Cure is the outcome of research conducted at Mayo Clinic (Rochester, Minnesota, USA), Cardio3 BioSciences (Mont-Saint-Guibert, Belgium) and Cardiovascular Centre Aalst (Aalst, Belgium).
Christian Homsy, CEO of Cardio3 BioSciences commenting on today’s announcement said, “Our ability to raise this significant amount of funding demonstrates the commitment of our investors and their confidence in the considerable value that we can generate from C-Cure. The new funding will allow us to proceed with our European Phase III trial in patients with Congestive Heart failure. We are confident that this study will confirm that C-Cure has the potential to significantly improve the disease course of those very sick patients, and could lead to a paradigm shift in the treatment of heart failure.”
