$ 2M toward an efficient and lenient chemotherapy: the government of Québec and 6 individual investors enter the capital of Pharma in silica
QUEBEC CITY May 2nd - Pharma in silica inc. announces today the closing of a $ 2,000,000 funding to continue the development of OpPacli™, an original nanomedicine developed to provide patients suffering from certain solid cancers with a well-tolerated and more efficient chemotherapy.
The round was led by Mr. Alexandre Grenier, a businessman and specialist in the marketing of pharmaceuticals. He joined the venture because “the oncological arsenal will remain incomplete as long as patients undergo degrading side effects and the perfectible efficiency of chemotherapy.” Six new individual shareholders brought $ 750,000; two of the historic shareholders and the co -founders of the company, SiliCycle and François Arcand, also participated in the round.
The Québec government has invested $ 1,000,000 in the company via its program Impulsion PME, for which Investissement Québec acts as an agent.
“Through this investment, our government contributes to the development of a novel treatment for cancer patients, in addition to stimulating the development of the biopharmaceutical sector in the national capital and the whole of Québec. With its new component devoted to this sector, the Impulsion PME program will support more promising young companies like Pharma in silica,” said the deputy for Vanier - Les Rivières and parliamentary assistant to the minister of Higher Education, Mr. Mario Asselin.
“Investissement Québec is proud to support promising young companies such as Pharma in silica, which are in key sectors of our economy and which help strengthen Québec's expertise.”, underlines Guy Leblanc, chairman and CEO of Investissement Québec.
The funds collected will be devoted to the preclinical study of OpPacli™ (optimized paclitaxel) and to the requests for authorization of a multicenter Canada/United States clinical study (patients suffering from advanced non-small cells lung carcinoma (NSCLC). The work is carried out by a multidisciplinary team of 10 scientists, university collaborators and seasoned consultants.
For François Arcand, the president of the company, “this investment propels OpPacli towards our ultimate goal: to improve the lives of patients.”