$12M more for Malvern drug developer Promedior

Promedior Inc., Malvern, says it's raised $12 million from Dutch investor Forbion Capital Partners, and from previous U.S. investors, for Phase 2 clinical trials of its human protein drug candidate PRM-151 to fight eye, lung and kidney inflammation and internal scarring (fibrosis).

Members of the investment group, which includes U.S. investors Morgenthaler Ventures of Palo Alto and Boston; HealthCare Ventures of Princeton; Polaris Venture Partners; and Easton Capital of New York, put in another $15 million in February 2009. Forbion's Geert-Jan Mulder joins Promedior's board, where the other funds are already represented.

PRM-151 "is a recombinant form of a naturally-occuring protein that circulates in the blood and is present in all kinds of tissues," Colangelo told me. "The molecule was identified probably 30 years ago. Our scientific founders, Richard Gomer and Darrell Pilling, discovered its anti-fibrotic effects" in the early 2000s at Rice University. They have since moved to Texas A&M, and serve on Promedior's scientific advisory board.

Colangelo, a veteran Eli Lilly Co. executive who joined Promedior in 2008, says the firm located in Malvern due to the "biotech corridor" of local companies that its staff is drawn from. Promedior employs 12; "it's fair to say we're going to add a few people" as the clinical trials progress, Colangelo told me.

Promedior, like other emerging-therapy companies backed by venture capitalists, is likely to get sold if its products continue to make progress in testing. "We are open to that," Colangelo said. "We are in discussions with potential partners that could take a variety of forms."