Targacept Raises $46 Million in Second Round Financing
Winston-Salem, NC
December 05, 2002
Targacept, Inc., a privately held company focused on central nervous system (CNS) diseases, announced today that it has completed a $46 million equity financing. The financing was led by Nomura International’s Healthcare Private Equity Group, based in London. Targacept will use the funds to advance its current programs into late stage clinical development and to progress its preclinical programs.
In addition to Nomura, other new investors participating in this financing round were New Enterprise Associates (NEA), CDIB BioScience Ventures and Easton Hunt Capital Partners. Also participating were investors from Targacept’s first round financing: EuclidSR Partners, Burrill & Company, Advent Venture Partners, Auriga Ventures, CDC-IXIS Innovation, Genavent Fund, Société Générale Asset Management Finance and Academy Venture Fund.
Targacept also announced that Jim Barrett and John Richard have been elected to the company’s board of directors. Dr. Barrett is a General Partner of NEA and was Founder, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Sensors for Medicine and Science, Inc. Mr. Richard is a former Executive Vice President of Business Development for Sequus Pharmaceuticals.
“We are extremely pleased to form relationships with these well-respected life science investors and to add these talented individuals to our board,” said J. Donald deBethizy, President and CEO of Targacept. “The sizeable support from both new and existing investors in these challenging market conditions is a substantial validation of Targacept’s business model, clinical programs and underlying technology platform. These funds will allow Targacept to continue to pursue key milestones in the clinical development of our lead product candidates.”
"Targacept has done a great job of establishing a broad portfolio of clinical stage CNS opportunities,” said Denise Pollard-Knight, Head of Healthcare Private Equity at Nomura. “The company has combined its expertise in nicotinic acetylcholine receptor biology with its proprietary chemistry to identify selective drug candidates with promising safety profiles for this class of drugs. With the financing complete, Targacept now has the components necessary for success.”
“NEA has been very impressed with Targacept’s business plan and the commercial opportunities for its receptor-based therapeutics,” said Jim Barrett. “We believe the combination of a balanced clinical stage portfolio, a validated discovery engine and an experienced management team position Targacept as one of the leading biotechnology companies in the CNS space.”
About Targacept
Targacept, Inc. is a world leader in the discovery and development of nicotinic acetylcholine receptor-based therapies for neurodegenerative, neuropsychiatric and gastrointestinal diseases. The company has products in research and development for treating Alzheimer's disease, Parkinson's disease, Lewy body dementia, ulcerative colitis, depression, pain, anxiety disorders and schizophrenia. The company has a strategic alliance with Aventis Pharma SA to discover, develop and commercialize Targacept compounds for the treatment of Alzheimer’s disease and a strategic alliance with Dr. Falk Pharma GmbH to develop a new class of drugs to treat ulcerative colitis.
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