Copenhagen, Denmark - November 2, 2004. Symphogen A/S (the Company), the Danish biotech company pioneering recombinant natural human antibodies for the treatment and prevention of human disease, today announced the initial closing of a Series C financing round involving commitments from existing investors of USD 25 million. The investors, who are participating pro-rata, are Essex Woodlands Health Ventures (USA), Scandinavian Life Science (SLS) Venture, Novo A/S, LD Pensions and Vaekstfonden.

“This USD 25 million additional investment demonstrates continued strong support of Symphogen by existing investors, each of whom is well positioned to fully appreciate the exceptional quality of the Company,” said Jeff Himawan, Ph.D., Managing Director of Essex Woodlands Health Ventures, a US-based venture capitalist and largest shareholder in Symphogen A/S.

Commenting on this financial milestone, Kirsten Drejer, Ph.D., Chief Executive Officer of Symphogen A/S said, “We are partnered with an exceptional group of international investors who have clearly demonstrated their commitment to Symphogen. Our investors appreciate the opportunity that exists within the medical marketplace for target-specific recombinant natural human antibodies, which can be monoclonal or polyclonal depending on the nature of the target. Other potential new investors may elect to join the round given the opportunities that exist for the Company and its shareholders.”

Martin Olin Andersen, Partner at SLS Venture, added to Dr. Drejer’s comments saying, “This expansion of our initial investment is good business. Symphogen has been rolling out some very exciting R&D and manufacturing data that reaffirms the wisdom of our initial investment.”

Elaborating on this, Martin Edwards, MD, Partner at Novo A/S, explained, “In May of this year Symphogen and Biovitrum entered into an agreement that involves process development and production of a Rhesus D-specific human recombinant polyclonal antibody for Symphogen’s clinical studies on the prevention of hemolytic disease in newborns. It is an important achievement that Symphogen has brought this first product to the stage of upscaling manufacture in preparation for clinical trials.”

Expressing his support following the outcome of this financing round, Laurence J Korn, Ph.D., who recently joined the Board of Directors at Symphogen A/S said, “I am very impressed by the tremendous technical progress we have accomplished recently, and am excited to be working with Symphogen to help establish corporate partnerships with biotech and pharmaceutical companies,” 


About Symphogen
Symphogen A/S is a biotechnology company pioneering therapeutic products based on natural human antibodies for the treatment and prevention of human disease. By use of its proprietary technologies Symphogen aims to develop and eventually market unique antibody-based products with an antibody composition that mimics the diversity, affinity, and specificity of the natural human immune system. Generation of antibody drug candidates is achieved using either the Symplex™ or the Symphage™ technology. The selected lead drug candidate may be polyclonal or monoclonal, depending on the nature of the target. For development and manufacturing of polyclonal antibody drug candidates, designated symphobodies, the Company applies its proprietary expression platform, the Sympress™ technology, which allows consistent manufacturing of recombinant polyclonal antibody compositions. Symphobodies offer a number of advantages over current plasma-derived immunoglobulins and monoclonal antibody therapies for the treatment of diseases characterized by complex target antigens, such as those found in infectious diseases, allergy, transplant rejection, and cancer. Collectively, Symphogen’s technologies offer best in class antibody therapeutics against both simple and complex target antigens. The commercial potential of symphobodies is expected to be very significant.


About the Investors
Essex Woodlands Health Ventures was founded in 1985 on the principle that focus makes for a better investment strategy. Essex invests exclusively in healthcare, and has done so for nearly two decades. From an initial fund of US $7 million, Essex has grown to manage over US $1 billion in committed capital, and continues to enjoy a track record of success in the top tier of mature venture capital funds of similar vintage. Jeff Himawan, Managing Director: +1 650 543-1555, jhimawan@ewhv.com

SLS Venture, a Scandinavian-based venture capital company, is the result of the merger of the life sciences teams from the Sixth Swedish National Pension Fund, Medicon Valley Capital, and Innoventus. The fund is one of the largest in Scandinavia investing in the life sciences sector with approximately EUR 250 million under management. Martin Olin Andersen, Partner: +45 32 64 81 85, martin.olin@slsventure.com

Novo A/S, the holding and venture capital arm of the Novo Group with an international focus on life science, is wholly owned by the Novo Nordisk Foundation. Novo A/S holds significant shareholdings in Novo Nordisk A/S (world leader in diabetes care) and Novozymes A/S (a world leader in enzymes for industrial use). Since its establishment in early 2000, Novo A/S has built a rapidly expanding portfolio of venture capital investments in pioneering companies. Martin Edwards, Partner: +45 40 21 85 32, MEd@novo.dk.

LD Pensions, is one of Denmark’s largest pension funds with more than US $9 billion under management, has a long-term and highly selective investment strategy. Investments made in unlisted companies are based on a fundamental analysis of the opportunity with an objective to hold the investment for a minimum of 3-5 years in order to position the company for a strategic sale or stock exchange listing. Hans Jørgen Madsen, Investment Manager: +45 33 36 89 36, hjm@ld.dk.

Vaekstfonden, a Danish state owned financial company operating independently in the capital markets, aims to facilitate the supply of venture capital in terms of start-up equity and high-risk loans with all financing being provided on commercial terms. Peter Benson, Partner: +45 3529 8619/ +45 40 80 48 96, benson@vf.dk, Trine Bartholdy, Senior Investment Manager: +45 35 29 86 68/ +45 40 80 48 67, bartholdy@vf.dk.

For more information about Symphogen A/S please contact:
Kirsten Drejer, CEO of Symphogen A/S: +45 45 26 50 59, kd@symphogen.com
Thomas Feldthus, CFO of Symphogen A/S: +45 45 26 50 55, tf@symphogen.com

www.symphogen.com

This press release contains certain forward-looking statements that reflect the current views and/or expectations of Symphogen A/S and its investors with respect to the Company’s performance, business and future events. Such statements are subject to a number of risks, uncertainties and assumptions. Actual results and events may vary significantly.