CN Creative Raises Series A Funding to Develop First Medically Approved Electronic Inhaler Nicotine Replacement …

MANCHESTER, England, Jan. 25, 2012 /PRNewswire/ — CN Creative, Ltd. (CNC), a healthcare company providing innovative and sustainable solutions to reduce smoking and smoking-related illnesses, today announced it has raised a Series A financing round led by Advent Life Sciences. The financing raised 2 million pounds, equivalent to approximately US $3.1 million. CNC intends to use the investment to continue and finalise development of its Nicadex™ electronic inhaler nicotine replacement therapy (NRT) product for use as part of medically supervised smoking cessation programmes. 
Despite large-scale public health efforts, about 20% of adults in the UK and the US continue to smoke. Smoking remains the most common cause of preventable death in the Western world and generates enormous costs for healthcare systems worldwide. Two-thirds of smokers report that they would like to quit, and about three-quarters of current smokers say they have tried to stop, but smoking is a powerfully addictive habit that can make quitting very difficult or almost impossible. Fewer than 10% of smokers are estimated to achieve success when trying to stop smoking on their own. In addition, studies show that currently available NRT products help only a small proportion of smokers to stop smoking permanently.
“CN Creative provides innovative approaches to reduce the harm caused by smoking, by helping smokers quit whenever possible or reduce their consumption of cigarettes when total abstinence is not achievable,” said David Newns, a co-founder and Company Director of CN Creative. “We believe our Nicadex electronic inhaler NRT, which will deliver pharmaceutical-grade nicotine using advanced electronic vaporisation technology, has the potential to help significant numbers of smokers stop entirely or significantly reduce their exposure to harmful tobacco smoke.”
Nicadex is similar in concept to the electronic cigarettes currently marketed to adult consumers by CN Creative and others, but with several key differences.
First, Nicadex will be tested in clinical trials and then submitted for regulatory review under the process used for other prescription NRT products, initially through the UK Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) and then through the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and other regulatory agencies.
Second, CNC intends to market the Nicadex electronic inhaler as a medically supervised NRT designed to reduce the harm caused by smoking and to help smokers quit as part of a comprehensive smoking cessation programme.
Third, the Nicadex electronic inhaler has been specially engineered and will be manufactured in the UK under the same stringent standards used for regulated medical products, and the pharmaceutical-grade nicotine solution it uses is being produced by CNC in its own UK-based cGMP facilities approved for the manufacture of prescription drugs.
“The support from our colleagues at Advent Life Sciences will enable CNC to undertake the clinical trials and medical regulatory review needed to confirm the safety and efficacy of Nicadex and to prepare for commercialisation. We expect to file for regulatory approval of the Nicadex electronic inhaler in the UK later this year,” added CN Creative co-founder and Company Director Chris Lord.
Nicadex is a hand-held device that delivers purified nicotine to the user through the vaporisation of a pharmaceutical-grade solution of nicotine. A rechargeable lithium battery powers the vaporiser that instantly turns the nicotine solution into a vapour that is inhaled by the user. Many users report that the sensation of using the Nicadex device is similar to smoking, but the vapour contains no smoke and none of the carbon monoxide, tar or thousands of toxic impurities that make smoking tobacco products so damaging to health. In addition, since there is no smoke, there are no smoke by-products that can cause “second-hand” harm to others.
“Decades of smoking cessation initiatives have had a positive impact on public health but millions continue to smoke and new approaches are urgently needed,” noted long-time smoking cessation and public health advocate Dr. Chris Steele. ”I am encouraged by the potential of the innovative Nicadex electronic inhaler being developed by CNC, which provides a smoke-free, tobacco-free nicotine replacement product in a format that is highly acceptable to smokers. If approved, Nicadex could be a valuable addition to our smoking cessation toolkit, immediately reducing the harm caused by smoking and enabling many smokers to proceed over time to full cessation. CNC’s emphasis on clinical testing, regulatory review, medical supervision and supportive services is encouraging, and I look forward to seeing the results of the clinical trials the company will be conducting this year.”
A distinctive element of CNC’s strategy is its recognition of the value of harm reduction. As noted in the influential 2010 UK government report, A Smokefree Future, “The tar and the carbon monoxide in smoked tobacco are the primary causes of smoking-related disease and death. … Nicotine (in the doses obtained from smoked and smokeless tobacco) is not a significant contributor to disease.” The report proposes that harm reduction measures should be an important element of smoking cessation programmes, noting that “this strategy … opens more routes to quitting, which, we believe, will help thousands more smokers to quit successfully. The new routes will encourage smokers to … manage their nicotine addiction using a safer alternative product … and dramatically reduce the harmful effects to their health, and the harmful effects to those around them. …”[1]
Similarly, after a comprehensive review of the medical and scientific literature, the American Association of Public Health Physicians (AAPHP) became the first medical organisation in the US officially to endorse tobacco harm reduction as a viable strategy to reduce the death toll related to cigarette smoking. It advocates in its white paper, The Case for Harm Reduction, that inveterate smokers – who are unable or unwilling to abstain from nicotine and tobacco – should be encouraged to switch to lower-risk smokeless tobacco products.[2]
Dale R. Pfost, PhD, a General Partner at Advent Life Sciences and the newly appointed Chairman of CN Creative commented, “CNC’s strategy of applying their smoking cessation expertise and the technology innovations first deployed in their Intellicig® electronic cigarettes to provide smokers with an advanced electronic inhaler nicotine replacement therapy is a potential game changer. We believe that Nicadex will significantly increase smokers’ chances of ending or reducing their reliance on smoking, while also reducing the well-documented health risks caused by smoking tobacco. With this investment in CN Creative, we aim to continue our track record of investing in innovative life science companies with the potential to become best-in-class in their fields.”
Kaasim Mahmood, a Partner at Advent Life Sciences who is joining the CN Creative Board of Directors, added, “We believe CNC’s products have great clinical and commercial potential, and we are delighted to provide the CNC team with financial and strategic support as they embark on the clinical studies and regulatory review process central to the success of this exciting new approach.”
[1] Department of Health (2010). A Smokefree Future, 2010. Available at: http://www.dh.gov.uk/prod_consum_dh/groups/dh_digitalassets/@dh/@en/@ps/documents/digitalasset/dh_111789.pdf.
[2] Nitzkin JL, Rodu B. Tobacco Control Task Force, American Association of Public Health Physicians. The Case for Harm Reduction for Control of Tobacco-related Illness and Death, 2008. Available at: http://www.aaphp.org/Resources/Documents/20081026HarmReductionResolutionAsPassedl.pdf
About CN Creative
Headquartered in the Bioscience Incubator at Manchester University in the UK, CN Creative provides innovative and sustainable solutions to global problems arising from smoking and smoking-related illnesses. It has developed a distinctive portfolio of products and services focused on smoking cessation and harm reduction, including user-friendly nicotine delivery systems and patient-focused smoking cessation and support services. CNC’s diverse products include QuitDirect, an NHS-accredited supplier of comprehensive smoking cessation services, the Intellicig® electronic cigarette, ECOpure proprietary high purity nicotine preparations and NRT Direct, which provides traditional nicotine replacement therapy products and patient support services to publicly and privately sponsored smoking cessation programmes. CNC’s Nicadex™ electronic inhaler nicotine replacement therapy product is in clinical development for use as part of medically supervised smoking cessation programmes. For more information, visit www.cncbio.co.uk.
About Advent Life Sciences
Advent Life Sciences is the dedicated Life Sciences Fund at Advent Venture Partners, one of Europe’s best-established growth and venture capital firms. Advent Life Sciences invests predominantly in early-stage and growth equity life sciences companies in the UK, Europe and the US. It will back companies that have a first- or best-in-class approach in a range of sectors within the life sciences, including new drug discovery, enabling technologies, med-tech and diagnostics.
The Advent Life Sciences team is a leader in European life sciences capital. Its investments include  PowderMed, a therapeutic DNA vaccine company sold to Pfizer; Thiakis, an obesity treatment company acquired by Wyeth Pharmaceuticals; Respivert, a drug discovery company focused on respiratory diseases acquired by Johnson & Johnson; EUSA Pharma, a rapidly growing transatlantic specialty pharmaceutical company focused on late-stage oncology, pain control and critical care products; and, Algeta (OSE: ALGETA.OL – News), an oncology company developing treatments for bone metastases and disseminated tumours. For more information see www.adventventures.com.
For more information, please contact:
CN CreativeMediaBarbara Lindheim or Jennifer Anderson, BioCom Partners:
blindheim@biocompartners.com, +1 212 584-2276 ext. 201
janderson@biocompartners.com, +1 212 584-2276 ext. 202
CorporateDavid Newns
david.newns@cncbio.com +44 (0) 7834 767 367
Advent Life SciencesSophie Kreifman, Grayling:
sophie.kreifman@grayling.com; +44 20 7592 7924
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BerGenBio Completes $9 Million Series A Financing for First in Class Oncology Therapeutics

BERGEN, Norway–(BUSINESS WIRE)– BerGenBio AS, an emerging oncology biopharma company, today announced it has completed an $8.8 million Series A financing round. The financing will be used primarily to take lead compound BGB324 into clinical trials and to develop a companion diagnostic. Lead investors are Sarsia Seed AS and Investinor AS.
BerGenBio CEO Richard Godfrey commented: “This significant new funding from both existing investors and now from Investinor, we believe supports our decision to focus on developing BGB324, our first-in-class Axl kinase inhibitor drug, rapidly towards clinical trials. BGB324 recently attracted a great deal of attention at the annual American Society for Hematology conference in San Diego, where data were presented data showing the compound inhibited tumour development in preclinical Acute Myelogenous Leukemia (AML) models. Furthermore we have shown that inhibition of Axl blocks the epithelial-mesenchymal transistion (EMT) in cancer cells and has the potential to delay or prevent metastasis, overcome and even reverse acquired resistance to chemotherapy and possibly prevent cancer recurrence. We now look forward to completing the preclinical work and taking BGB324, into the clinic by the end of 2012, as well as developing an AXL biomarker for theranostic use.”
Sveinung Hole, CEO of Sarsia Seed, a leading provider of seed capital in Norway, added that he was delighted to increase its investment in BerGenBio: “We regard BerGenBio as one of the most promising companies in our life sciences portfolio and are particularly impressed by the way in which the management is driving the preclinical development programme for BGB324 forward and meeting all preset milestones. We consider that the high quality of research and development at BerGenBio is the critical factor that has led to this significant funding in today’s challenging financial climate. We see BerGenBio’s success as “seeding” a long awaited biotech cluster here in Bergen.”
Anne-Tove Kongness, Investment Director at Investinor, a Norwegian-government-owned venture investment company commented: “We invest in Norwegian companies that have the potential to truly compete on an international basis. We believe that BerGenBio has the ability to do this by taking what is already world-class oncology research in Bergen and translating it into first-in-class therapeutics.”
Notes to editors
BerGenBio AS is an oncology-based biopharmaceutical company located in Bergen, Norway focused on pursuing novel therapeutic treatments for cancer and supporting the screening and identification of a wide array of potential targets in collaboration with other pharmaceutical companies. BerGenBio has a proprietary platform technology called CellSelect™, which uses information from RNAi screening studies to identify novel drug targets involved in disease. The company has a deep understanding of cancer biology and in particular the tumor micro-environment, EMT and mechanisms of drug resistance. BGB324, a first-in-class inhibitor of AXL kinase, is the first of a planned pipeline of oncology therapeutics planned for clinical development through to phase II in partnership with industry leaders. The company’s investors include Investinor, Sarsia Seed, Sarsia Development, Norsk Innovasjonskapital, Birk Venture, Meteva and employees. www.bergenbio.com
Sarsia Seed AS is a Norwegian Seed Capital Fund, which invests in Norwegian early phase technology companies within the energy/cleantech and biotechnology/life science sectors. The fund has a total capital of 333.5 million NOK (approx, 40 mEUR/50 mUSD) and is managed by Sarsia Seed Management AS. The management company advises the Fund board regarding investment decisions. The Fund’s duration is expected to be 12 (+3) years. www.sarsiaseed.com
Investinor AS invests in Norwegian-based, high potential companies that are internationally oriented and in phases ranging from early growth to expansion. The company has BNOK 2.2 under management. Investinor AS has a co-investment strategy and can take up to 49% equity ownership of a portfolio company. Investinor is fully owned by Innovation Norway, which in turn is owned by the Norwegian Ministry of Trade and Industry. http://www.investinor.no/


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Investment in developing world to rise -World Bank

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Investors are cautiously optimistic about their investment plans in developing countries over the next 12 months despite increased concerns about the euro zone debt crisis, a survey by the World Bank’s political risk insurance agency found on Thursday.
In a survey of 275 global investors by the Multilateral Investment Guarantee Agency (MIGA), more than half of corporate investors said they expect to increase investments in developing countries over the next 12 months.
Nearly three quarters of respondents said they planned to moderately or substantially increase investments in developing countries over the next three years.
Just 10 percent of respondents said they planned to decrease investments, and just 8 percent planned to cut back on investments over the medium term.
MIGA chief economist Ravi Vish told Reuters that even though the survey was conducted six months ago and may not capture the growing concern over the euro zone crisis, investors remain upbeat about developing countries’ prospects.
Vish said investors were concerned about spillover effects from the euro zone crisis and a possible liquidity freeze by banks, which would impact project financing.
European banks have been the largest investors in emerging market project finance, Vish added.
He said investors in developing economies were mainly drawn by oil, gas and mining sectors, with growing interest in banking and infrastructure development.
“We are seeing some caution over the next one year but long-term investment planning,” said Vish, pointing to growth rates of more than 6 percent in many developing economies.
“Notwithstanding everything that is happening, investors are still seeing the potential for growth in emerging markets over the long term,” he added.
The MIGA survey found that demand for political risk insurance had increased as perceptions of global risk have worsened.
The survey found that the principal worry of investors in developing countries was breach of contract by governments, regulatory changes and nationalization – a bigger concern than political violence or conflict.
MIGA said the potential for disputes between governments and foreign investors were increased by an economic shock and/or significant political shifts in a country.
Evidence also shows that investor disputes are more likely to be resolved by democratically elected governments than by non-democratic regimes.
‘ARAB SPRING’ AFTERMATH
MIGA said popular uprisings in the Middle East and North Africa have hurt foreign direct investment plans in the region. A significant number of corporate investors surveyed said have adopted a “wait-and-see” approach to investment in the region.
“Stability is critical for persuading investors to resume investment,” the report said.
Protests across the Middle East and North Africa this year toppled veteran rulers in Tunisia, Egypt and Libya, and forced Yemen’s president to sign away his powers. In Syria, the government is grappling with protests, and Bahrain is still dealing with the fallout from its crackdown on pro-democracy demonstrations in March.
The World Bank has forecast that foreign direct investment flows into the region will decline in 2011 and 2012, but expects growth to resume in 2013.
“With Europe under economic strain and uncertainties surrounding the political environment in Egypt, Libya and Tunisia, FDI into North Africa is likely to slump for longer and rebound more slowly than the rest of the region,” MIGA said.

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