Protagen raises €1 million to expand its protein biochips business unit

Dortmund, Germany and New Jersey, USA, 15 January 2008: Protagen AG, a leading provider of products, services and software solutions for protein research, announces the closing of an interim financing round. The €1 million raised will be used to expand the company’s protein biochips business unit.

The capital raised in this round has come from the existing institutional investors, MIG AG and Co KG Beteiligungsfonds 3, Munich, and S-Venture Capital Dortmund GmbH, as well as from a new investor, Kreditanstalt für Wiederaufbau (KfW). This latest funding brings the total amount of venture capital financing raised by Protagen since 2004 to €5.3 million.

The UNIchip® protein biochip range was launched onto the market in September 2005, and has experienced increasing demand from biotech and pharmaceutical companies, particularly in the USA and Europe where Protagen is based. Using this new capital Protagen aims to leverage its leading position in protein biochips to create new products and services in the area of biomarkers, both independently and in conjunction with pharmaceutical partners.

The Company has already created a unique protein biochip technology package, UNIarray®, for the discovery and validation of new biomarkers. Following the systematic identification of autoantibodies in patient sera, Protagen is able to create a protein biochip prototype for its partners that can be used as a diagnostic tool, either as part of clinical study or for the identification of patient cohorts.

Protagen is also working on its own programmes for the development of prototype diagnostics for multiple sclerosis, rheumatoid arthritis, juvenile idiopathic arthritis and Alzheimer’s disease. The programme for multiple sclerosis is the most advanced, with a prototype diagnostic for the disease already being tested in large numbers of patients.

Contact
Dr. Christoph Hüls
CEO
Protagen AG
Otto-Hahn-Str. 15
44227 Dortmund
Tel: +49 (0) 231 9742 6300
Fax: +49 (0) 231 9742 6301
E-Mail: info@protagen.com

For media enquiries
Dr. Holger Bengs
Biotech Consulting
Tel: +49 (0) 69 6199 4273
Fax: +49 (0) 69 6199 4249
E-Mail: info@holgerbengs.de

About Protagen AG
Protagen (www.protagen.com) is a leading provider of products, services and software solutions for protein research. Operating internationally to provide customers with products and services of the highest quality, Protagen has offices in Dortmund, Germany and New Jersey, USA. The Company has a decade of experience in applying the most advanced protein research tools and techniques to improve the efficiency of the drug discovery and development process.

As an innovator in protein biochips, Protagen has developed UNIclone®, a patent protected platform for protein expression libraries and protein arrays, and UNIchip®, a versatile and highly efficient series of protein biochip products for antibody development. In addition, it has established UNIarrayTM, a highly efficient technology platform for biomarker discovery on an industrial scale. Protagen has recently received a BioChance Plus grant from the German government to identify biomarkers for Multiple Sclerosis and Rheumatoid Arthritis.
Protagen provides customers with a flexible service program, including protein analysis and identification, differential protein display, antibody validation and specification, antigen identification, and full data management services.
Protagen AG is privately owned and has closed three financing rounds: at the end of 2004, in spring 2006 and in spring 2008. Shareholders of Protagen AG, besides the founders and the management team, are S-Venture Capital Dortmund GmbH, MIG AG & Co KG Beteiligungsfonds 1 and 3 and the Kreditanstalt für Wiederaufbau (KfW).

This release was published on openPR.