BioCrossroads Invests in Indianapolis Biotech Company Developing Treatments for Alzheimer’s Disease

BioCrossroads Invests in Indianapolis Biotech Company Developing
Treatments for Alzheimer’s Disease

AgeneBio’s breakthrough being evaluated in human clinical study

PR Newswire — May 12, 2010

INDIANAPOLIS, May 12 /PRNewswire/ — BioCrossroads’ Indiana Seed Fund, Indiana’s
only targeted life sciences seed stage investment fund, has invested $300,000 in
AgeneBio, an Indianapolis-based biotechnology start-up company focused on the
development of therapeutic products for Alzheimer’s disease, dementia and other
memory disorders.

More than 5 million Americans suffer from Alzheimer’s disease (AD), a number
that is expected to grow exponentially over the next decade as a result of the
aging population. Currently approved medications for AD treat only the clinical
symptoms and have little impact on the progression of the disease. AgeneBio’s
research platform is based on intellectual property from Johns Hopkins
University and has a number of new patents to broaden its approach to developing
therapies.

“AgeneBio’s advancements in the treatment of memory-related conditions for the
elderly could change the lives of millions of aging Americans and their
families,” said David Johnson, President and CEO of BioCrossroads. “The
company’s science is strong and the management team is comprised of seasoned
executives from the pharmaceutical industry with highly applicable experience in
the development and commercialization of drugs for psychiatric and neurological
disorders.”

This is the tenth life sciences start up that has received funding from our
Indiana Seed Fund. Our fund has become a critical resource for Indiana’s new
companies holding great promise for the future of Indiana’s economy and
encouraging breakthrough innovation from Indiana’s outstanding research
community,” continued Johnson.

AgeneBio’s first therapy is targeted at a very early form of AD called Amnestic
Mild Cognitive Impairment (aMCI), a neurological condition that often progresses
to Alzheimer’s disease and affects more than 3 million aging Americans. A proof
of concept study is underway evaluating AgeneBio’s lead therapy in patients with
this condition, and its early platform technologies are being explored for a
number of neurological conditions.

“The investment by BioCrossroads will help us advance our research and
formulations work so we can accelerate the development of our therapeutic
program,” said Tim Parshall, CEO of AgeneBio. “We’ve been working closely with
investors and consultants in Indiana and have been using a global sourcing
network to bring our first product to phase II trials. Indiana’s positive
entrepreneurial and scientific environment for life sciences companies was a
significant factor in our decision to establish our company here.”

If there is a positive outcome from the clinical study, AgeneBio will seek the
use of an accelerated approval pathway from the U.S. Food and Drug
Administration (FDA) to bring its first product to market, potentially
shortening the normal pharmaceutical development timeline by as much as five
years.

According to DataMonitor, aMCI-specific annual sales are expected to increase
seven-fold from 2007 to $3.3 billion by 2018.

About BioCrossroads

BioCrossroads (www.biocrossroads.com) is Indiana’s initiative to grow, advance
and invest in the life sciences, a publicprivate collaboration that supports the
region’s existing research and corporate strengths while encouraging new
business development. BioCrossroads provides money and support to life sciences
businesses, launches new life sciences enterprises (Indiana Health Information
Exchange, Fairbanks Institute for Healthy Communities, BioCrossroadsLINX, and
Datalys Center), expands collaboration and partnerships among Indiana’s life
science institutions, promotes science education and markets Indiana’s life
sciences industry.

About the Indiana Seed Fund I

The $6 million, returndriven Indiana Seed Fund was launched in June 2005 and is
managed by BioCrossroads with funding from BioCrossroads, the Indiana Finance
Authority and the Indiana Economic Development Corporation. The Seed Fund
provides working capital in the range of $50,000$500,000 to promising Indiana
life sciences companies at the preliminary stages of operation.

About AgeneBio

Established in 2009, AgeneBio is headquartered in Indianapolis and is focused on
developing therapies to treat AD. The company currently has a therapy for
Amnestic Mild Cognitive Impairment in Phase II clinical trials.

SOURCE BioCrossroads

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