Ann Arbor's Cerenis Therapeutics ropes in $51.7M VC investment

Wednesday, July 28, 2010 | Source: Concentrate

Cerenis Therapeutics has landed $51.7 million in venture capital, making it another Ann Arbor company that has hit an investment home run in an area that is on a hit streak.

The 5-year-old firm, composed mainly of former Pfizer employees, will use the money to expand its operations here and in France. It employs 26 people that are evenly split between the two locations, with the Ann Arbor office giving work to another four independent contractors. Three positions have been added over the last year, with an expected ramp-up in hiring with this new infusion of capital.

"The funding will allow us to expand here and in France," says Bill Brinkerhoff, COO of Cerenis Therapeutics.

Cerenis Therapeutics is working on creating and commercializing the first synthetic HDL, which is the so-called good cholesterol. The idea is to create a new way to remove plaque from heart tissue. The product could be on the market as soon as 2015.

"We're going to see if it can regress plaque rapidly in patients who have had a heart attack," Brinkerhoff says. "We have finished Phase 1 and this will pay for Phase 2, which is proof of concept."

Source: Bill Brinkerhoff, COO of Cerenis Therapeutics
Writer: Jon Zemke