The High-Tech Gründerfonds Portfoliocompany Lophius Biosciences Secures EUR 2,0 Million Financing and Announces Leadership Changes

Lophius Biosciences GmbH, a privately held biotech company focusing on the development and marketing of innovative T cell based research tools and diagnostic systems for functional assessment of disease-reactive T cells, today announced that the company has secured a EUR 2,0 Million financing round. This financing was led by one of the current main investors, VRD GmbH, Heidelberg, Germany with participation of two of the existing investors one of which S-Refit AG, Regensburg. The current investment will support the continuation into a commercial operation to further advance the clinical studies of Lophius’ flagship product T-Track® CMV for the various clinical indications and to enable the further development of the pipeline products T-Track® TB (Tuberculosis) as well as T-Track® MS (Multiple Sclerosis). Corinna Heppner, investment manager of  the Seedinvestor High-Tech Gründerfonds is excited about the investment:  “We are looking forward to further develop the company together with such strong financial partners on board.”

With the secured financing, Dr. Robert Phelps, previously Lophius’ Director Business Operations, has been appointed as new Chief Executive Officer and the current CEO, Prof. Dr. Ralf Wagner, has been elected as Chairman of the Board, replacing Mr. Bertram Gilka-Bötzow, now one of the board’s Vice Presidents. Prof. Wagner and Dr. Phelps will work closely together to further drive the conversion of a previously research and development focused company into a commercial organization.

“The current round of financing and management change are supporting a long-term strategy to capitalize on the company’s future growth opportunities and goals and its transition into a commercial operation” said Prof. Dr. Wagner. “I am excited to take on this new challenge and to work with Ralf and a team of highly skilled specialists and researchers. I look forward to increasing our market presence and continuing to aggressively pursue additional pathways for market expansion of our T-Track® products,” added Dr. Phelps.

Prof. Dr. Wagner, now elected to become Lophius’ Chairman of the Board, joined Lophius Biosciences in January 2013 as CEO. During his leadership, he instrumentally contributed to the further development of all parts of the company – from human resources to quality management, from research activities up to the implementation of new entities such as manufacturing, clinical trial coordination or sales. “With his professional working attitude, his excellent management skills and his profound scientific and economic background, Ralf has tremendously contributed towards advancing Lophius to a highly innovative and at the same time commercially oriented organization. We’ll hear more about most recent progress made under his leadership in the weeks to come. We are very happy that Prof. Dr. Wagner will continue to support Lophius in his new role as Chairman of the Board”, said Mr. Gilka-Bötzow.

About Lophius Biosciences
Lophius Biosciences GmbH, a German biotech company, is focusing on the development and marketing of innovative T cell based diagnostic systems for diagnosis and immunomonitoring. The Company’s flag ship product is T-Track®CMV, a diagnostic system intended to determine the functionality of the cell-mediated immune response in cytomegalovirus (CMV) seropositive transplant patients who undergo an immunosuppressive therapy. With its innovative products, the Company aims to significantly improve therapy control and personalized treatment of patients in the area of transplantation medicine, infectious and autoimmune diseases. Dr. Robert Phelps joined Lophius Biosciences in October 2013 as Director Business Operations and previously spent 14 years in various business development, licensing, and marketing and sales roles in the biotech and pharma industry. Prof. Dr. Ralf Wagner joined Lophius in January 2013 as CEO. Prior of that, he served almost 13 years as CEO of GeneArt AG, a German biotech company founded Nov 1999 as spin-off from the University of Regensburg, that went public in 2006 and was acquired by Life Technologies in 2010. Besides to his roles in the biotech industry, he is Professor for Medical Microbiology and faculty member at the University of Regensburg.

Contact:
Dr. Robert Phelps
Lophius Biosciences GmbH
Josef Engert Str. 13
93053 Regensburg
Tel.: +49 941 630 9191 80
info@lophius.com

About High-Tech Gründerfonds
High-Tech Gruenderfonds invests in young, high potential high-tech start-ups. The seed financing provided is designed to enable start-ups to take an idea through prototyping and to market launch. Typically, High-Tech Gruenderfonds invests EUR 500,000 in the seed stage, with the potential for up to a total of EUR 2 million per portfolio company in follow-on financing. Investors in this public/private partnership include the Federal Ministry of Economics and Energy, the KfW Banking Group, as well as strategic corporate investors including ALTANA, BASF, Bayer, B. Braun, Robert Bosch, CEWE, Daimler, Deutsche Post DHL, Deutsche Telekom, Evonik, Lanxess, media + more venture Beteiligungs GmbH & Co. KG, METRO, Qiagen, RWE Innogy, SAP, Tengelmann and Carl Zeiss. High-Tech Gruenderfonds has about EUR 576 million under management in two funds (EUR 272 million HTGF I, EUR 304 million HTGF II).

Contact:
High-Tech Gründerfonds Management GmbH
Corinna Heppner
Schlegelstraße 2
53113 Bonn
Tel.: +49 (228) 823 001-00
Fax: +49 (228) 823 000-50
info@high-tech-gruenderfonds.de
www.high-tech-gruenderfonds.de