Hadasit Bio Holdings, Ltd. (HBL), a subsidiary of Hadasit (the technology transfer company of the Hadassah Medical Organization), announced today that TK Signal Ltd., one of its portfolio companies, has raised approximately $1.3 million from private investors in London. The investment took place at a pre-money company valuation of $10 million. (The company is continuing to seek investors and hopes to reach a total of ₤1.6 million in the coming months.)
According to Dana Cohen, the company’s CEO, “the money raised is intended to enable the company to complete pre-clinical trials of its first product and to move on to human trials scheduled for late 2006. Meanwhile, TK Signal has been in contact with the health authorities, including the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and the Israel Ministry of Health, to obtain approval for the commencement of human trials.”
According to Dr. Rafi Hofstein, CEO of Hadasit Bio-Holdings, “TK Signal is part of a veritable revolution in the market for cancer drugs. The biological marker developed by the company can help characterize and adapt a drug to the patient population while permitting close tracking of its effectiveness. The company’s goal is to enter the world market for radioactive imaging products for cancer diagnosis, and especially the market for PET scanning biomarkers.”
TK Signal develops molecules designed to diagnose, trace, and treat a broad spectrum of cancers. The molecules are based in part on discoveries by Dr. Eyal Mishani of the Department of Nuclear Medicine at the Hadassah–Hebrew University Hospital. They target the epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR), which accelerates the development and proliferation of cancerous cells, and can be used for state-of-the-art non-invasive medical imaging. TK Signal’s main product, TKS040, will make it possible to manage and trace focused drug therapy for cancer patients.
Frost and Sullivan has estimated that the world market for radiopharmaceuticals reached $2 billion in 2005. Over the next five years the market is expected to show an annual growth rate of 10%. The most advanced system employed today, PET (positron emission tomography), is used for detecting lung cancer, breast cancer, colon cancer, lymphomas, and melanomas. TK Signal’s technology can serve as a breakthrough on the way to individualized and focused cancer therapy.
With the completion of this round, Hadasit Bio-Holdings owns 28.43% of TK Signal. To date (excluding the present round), a total of NIS 8.5 million has been invested in the company.
About Hadasit Bio-Holdings
Hadasit Bio-Holdings Ltd. (TASE: HDST) was established by Hadasit (the technology transfer company of the Hadassah Medical Organization) to capitalize on the knowledge and experience accumulated in its research laboratories. Hadasit Bio-Holdings currently owns nine bio-technology startups that have already demonstrated the feasibility and effectiveness of their products in animal models and are in preparations to begin clinical trials in human beings.
The HBL companies have developed drugs with blockbuster market potential (annual markets in the billions of dollars) that are intended for the treatment of cancer, inflammatory diseases, and tissue reconstruction using stem cells—areas where Hadassah Hospital has major expertise and an international reputation as a scientific, technological, and clinical leader.
Hadasit has already recorded a number of prominent successes based on granting licenses for the development and marketing of drugs and treatment methods based on embryonic stem-cell technology to ESI in Singapore, the NDV virus for treatment of malignant tumors through THERAVIR, and a drug to increase stem cells produced from umbilical cord blood by GamidaCell.
Hadasit, through staff physicians of the Hadassah Medical Center, has also contributed to the development of various drugs and therapeutic methods, including those of XTL, J&J (Doxil), and recently Nasvax, which is developing a flu vaccine.
For additional information, please visit the Hadasit Bio-Holdings website:
www.hbl.co.il. | 
