Eolo Pharma (www.eolo-pharma.com), a pioneering South American biotech company developing multiple drugs that stop low grade chronic inflammation, is pleased to announce that it has successfully closed an oversubscribed Series A financing round of 2.7 million dollars. The proceeds will be used to carry out preclinical and toxicological tests on a new compound for the prevention and treatment of obesity and its metabolic complications. Once these studies are finished, the company will be able to advance to human tests under global FDA standards. “In South America, despite having a critical mass of research in pharmacology, there have been no significant developments of new drugs in the last 50 years,” said Pía Garat, CEO of Eolo Pharma.
Eolo Pharma is a biotech spin off from the Institut Pasteur de Montevideo that was initiated more than 10 years ago through a collaboration of a multidisciplinary team of scientists of Institut Pasteur de Montevideo and la Universidad de la República, Uruguay. The company is operating out of its operational base in Uruguay with a holding company in the U.S.A. and a subsidiary in Argentina. The company obtained its first seed investment from CITES, the venture capital fund and startup accelerator of the Sancor Seguros Group, together with a joint venture of the Scientific Accelerators program of the Argentine government.
In the present finance round (Series A), CITES is a repeat investor together with a group of international investors led by Paul Elberse of FICUS CAPITAL (www.ficuscapital.com, www.globalscopepartners.com). The investors were very excited to have a direct opportunity to participate in a high quality biotech company entering into clinical trials in humans, focused on a high potential impact in society with a solution to a pressing global health issue, especially as these opportunities often remain reserved for the professional VC funds.
“We are honored by the trust of our investors placed in the team. We will use the funds to move towards the clinical development of our leading compound”, said Pía Garat, CEO of Eolo Pharma.
Eolo Pharma’s technology is protected by invention patents with worldwide coverage that were co-developed between the Institut Pasteur of Montevideo (http://pasteur.uy/en/home/) and the University of the Republic of Uruguay and licensed to the company. In this regard, Carlos Batthyány, director of the Institut Pasteur, commented that “in recent years it has become clear that all developed countries have science, technology and innovation as central strategies for the development of knowledge-based, and sustainable economies. For the researchers of this project it is a great achievement that from Uruguay you can do curiosity driven science and go one step further, trying to take a compound from the lab to the pharmacy. The Institut Pasteur de Montevideo is committed to continue this path by performing more and better science, but with the commitment that in cases that warrant it, knowledge can be turned into an innovative product”.
Eolo Pharma counts with a sophisticated team of international advisors with a recognized track record in the development of pharmaceuticals with a presence in the United States, Italy, Switzerland and Argentina. He has also participated in multiple international fairs, capturing the interest of pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies that are leaders in the market.
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About Eolo Pharma
Eolo Pharma has as its main focus the development of new drugs for diseases related to chronic inflammation, promoting disruptive therapies for the treatment and prevention of some of the main causes of death in the world. The company has global patents that are the result of the accumulation of more than 15 years of research developed by its founders. Its developments, protected worldwide with intellectual property patents, cover cardiovascular diseases, obesity-induced insulin resistance, neurodegenerative diseases such as Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS), allograft transplantation and autoimmune diseases.
About the Institut Pasteur of Montevideo
The Institut Pasteur de Montevideo (IP Montevideo) is one of the centers that make up the International Network of Pasteur Institutes, which associates 33 independent scientific institutions on five continents and are united by the same culture and values. Dedicated to scientific research in the area of biological medicine applied to human and animal health, the IP Montevideo is formed by research laboratories that rely on scientific technological platforms in areas such as genomics, proteomics and bioinformatics. Its mission is to generate original knowledge and disruptive technological advances and of high international standard. With these examples and proof of concept, the IP Montevideo intends to value research and thus contribute to Uruguay begin to walk the path towards a sustainable economy based on knowledge and innovation with high added value.
About FICUS CAPITAL
FICUS Capital offers a complete array of services in the development of, and investments in large-scale projects, M&A advisory services, corporate finance and direct investments (seed, VC and PE). FICUS Capital designs the capital structures and directly invests in the renewable energy, biotech, technology and agtech sectors. FICUS Capital is characterized by the great commitment with the transactions it selects, working with interdisciplinary teams with varied professional skill sets and reaches more than 46 countries through its partnership in the Globalscope network.
About CITES
CITES is an entrepreneurial capital investor in early stages, which invests, accelerates and incubates projects based on disruptive science that address the needs of global markets. CITES is the only investor in Latin America specialized in finding or generating investment opportunities based on patents within the regional scientific system. This thesis allows you to maximize your returns, and lead the development of scientific-technological entrepreneurship in the region.
