K4-MA Announces First Portfolio Company Liquidity Event Initiated By A $300 Million Payment

PHILADELPHIA - Oct. 19, 2015 - PRLog -- Keiretsu Forum Mid-Atlantic invested in Immunomic Therapeutics, Inc (ITI), a company developing next generation vaccines based on the LAMP-vaxplatform, shortly after opening its first chapter in Philadelphia and then did a follow-on bridge round in 2013.  Astellas Pharma Inc., in Tokyo, Japan today announced they have entered into an exclusive worldwide license agreement to the LAMP-vax products for the treatment or prevention of any and all allergic diseases in humans.  The LAMP-vax technology enhances the effectiveness of DNA vaccines.  It has the ability to make DNA vaccines work, which potentially enables effective vaccinations for a wide spectrum of diseases.

“The clinical results of the Japanese Red Cedar Vaccine were so compelling that, in less than four years from our initial investments, we are looking at sharing in the initial $300,000,000 payment by Astellas and may end up with an 8-16x return!” said Howard Lubert, the Mid-Atlantic Regions Area President.  “Bernie Rudnick, a long-time Keiretsu member, brought us the ITI opportunity and is well known in the region and around the county as a Life Sciences Super Angel.  We are fortunate to have members like Bernie in our Region and look forward to many more positive returns in the future,” Lubert added.

In January 2015, Astellas Pharma acquired the exclusive worldwide rights to research, develop, manufacture and commercialize any potential LAMP-vax products designed to treat or prevent human allergic diseases, including, among other things, for the treatment or prevention of peanut allergy as well as other research-stage programs for food or environmental allergies.  ITI Therapeutics and Astellas entered into an exclusive license agreement for Japan to develop and commercialize pharmaceutical products designed to treat allergies induced by Japanese red cedar pollen.  Astellas initiated a Phase 1 trial in Japan this year.

“We are excited that Astellas recognized the potential of LAMP-vax technology to usher in a new era in vaccination against common and serious allergies and are thrilled to be partnering with them again,” said Dr. William Hearl, CEO of Immunomic Therapeutics.  “With this new partnership, Astellas can explore the LAMP-vax platform for allergic disease, while we continue applications in other areas, like cancer immunotherapy.”

“Astellas sets a strategic goal to advance new opportunities as part of our Strategic Plan 2015-2017, and we are actively investing in new therapeutic areas and new technologies/new modalities, in particular, regenerative medicine and next generation vaccines,” commented Kenji Yasukawa, Ph.D., Senior Vice President and Chief Strategy Officer, Astellas.  "We focus on immunology as one of the prioritized disease areas for our research and are exploring targets for new drug discoveries that involve several immune disorders, with the aim of developing a causal treatment for immune disorders.  We are very excited to partner with Immunomic Therapeutics again as this transaction further supports our strategic goals and strengthens our pipeline in immunology.”

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ABOUT KEIRESTU FORUM

Keiretsu Forum is a global angel investor network with more than 900 accredited investor members throughout 27 chapters on three continents. Keiretsu Forum Mid-Atlantic (www.KeiretsuForum-MidAtlantic.com) consists of four chapters that function as a single entity – Philadelphia, DC, Pittsburgh and New York. Keiretsu is a Japanese term for a group of organizations with interlocking business relationships, and Keiretsu Forum is a group of accredited investors with interlocking investment interests. Each chapter or region meets monthly to present rigorously screened candidates for investments. Keiretsu Forum’s mission is “Great Association with Quality Deal Flow.”

The Mid-Atlantic Region presents approximately five deals a month, 60 a year, to its members and accredited investor guests. Slightly more than 10 percent get funded, which is higher than the industry average. Approximately 36 funding applications are submitted each month to the K4-MA DealRoom website, www.K4-DealRoom.com and vetted by industry specialists. About 10 are then vetted by members at monthly screening meetings where they participate in a highly structured presentation-and-feedback-learning session. Three to four of the screened companies are then invited to present at subsequent monthly Forum meetings. Entrepreneurs invited to move forward to the Forum meetings must participate in mandatory professional coaching sessions to optimize the delivery of their presentations and also agree to participate in the road show to all four cities in the region, with exposure to approximately 100 investors. Subsequently, information about their companies is posted on the organization’s online global deal room for reference by all 900+ members. For global information visit: www.KeiretsuForum.com.

*Due to the new SEC 506(c) ruling made in September 2013, Keiretsu Forum cannot disclose the names of the companies that will be presented at these events until after funding is received.