Privately held Wilex AG of Munich, Germany, announced today the closing of its series C private equity round with proceeds of EUR 30 million (US$ 39 million).

Led by Merlin Biosciences (London, UK), the round was subscribed by several new investors including Karolinska Investment Fund (Stockholm, Sweden), Quest for Growth (Leuven, Belgium), Quintiles' PharmaBio Development (North Carolina, USA) as well as existing shareholders including Apax Partners (London, UK), TVM Techno Venture Management (Munich, Germany), Earlybird Venture Capital (Hamburg, Germany) and other institutional and private investors.

To date, Wilex has raised more than EUR 68 million (US$ 89 million) of equity financing.

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Wilex AG

FIRMS

Wilex AG, based in Munich (Germany), is a leading European biopharmaceutical company. Wilex is developing novel cancer therapies for the treatment of various tumors including renal and breast cancer. Therapies are based upon biologic targets directly connected to cancer progression and pathogenesis in order to provide effective and well tolerated treatment and enhance patients' quality of life. Wilex has a well-balanced late-stage product portfolio with three compounds in clinical trials and an attractive follow-on pre-clinical and research pipeline. The Company has two therapeutic platforms: antibodies and small molecules. The lead compound Rencarex(R) (WX-G250), a targeted antibody therapy for the treatment of solid tumors, is currently in a pivotal clinical Phase III trial in Renal Cell Cancer. The company's non-cytotoxic small molecule uPA inhibitors WX-UK1 and WX-671 for the treatment of breast cancer and other solid tumors are currently studied in several Phase I/II clinical trials. Wilex was founded in 1997 by clinical oncologists from the Technical University of Munich.

BOARD/MANAGEMENT

Salvatore D'Orsa, Investment Director of Merlin Biosciences is a new member of the Supervisory Board of Wilex.