Pharmaceutical Executive Digest Europe - March 4, 2009 - (Page 12) News UK biotech company banks £21 million of funding Heptares Therapeutics Ltd (Cambridge, UK) a drug discovery company focused on drugs targeting G-protein-coupled receptors (GPCRs), has raised £21 million ( 23.73 million) of equity finance in a successful Series A private round from three blue-chip international venture capital firms. Clarus Ventures led the syndicate, which includes the founding investor, MVM Life Science Partners, and the Novartis Option Fund. All three investors contributed equally. Over the next three years, Heptares intends to use the new funds to develop its own pipeline of small-molecule drug candidates using its proprietary StaR (stabilised receptor) technology platform. GPCRs play a crucial role in many diseases and are the site of action of 25–30% of current drugs; as such they represent a major area of interest for pharmaceutical companies. However, these membrane proteins are notoriously difficult to isolate from cells in an intact and active form and this has severely restricted efforts to study GPCRs using modern drug discovery techniques. Heptares was founded in 2007 as a spin-out from the MRC Laboratory of Molecular Biology (London, UK), based on research and expertise in GPCRs. In 2008, the StaR technology was used successfully to elucidate the threedimensional atomic resolution structure of the beta-1 adrenergic receptor, which is the site of action of beta blockers. For more on these news stories and all the latest breaking pharma news, look at our website www.pharmexeceurope.com The best things in life are for sharing Forward your copy of Pharm Exec Europe to a friend Don’t forget to forward your weekly issue of the Pharm Exec Europe digest to a friend or colleague or you can subscribe by clicking here Image Source/Getty Images 2 FROM THE EDITOR / NEWS 3 11 PHARMA MBAs NEWS 6 BIO-ENTREPRENEUR SCHOOL 8 SALES FORCE EFFECTIVENESS 10 GSK’S PRICE CUTS 13 CALENDAR 14 ON THE MOVE http://www.pharmexeceurope.com http://www.pharmexeceurope.com/europharmexec/newsletter/subscribeNewsletter.jsp http://www.heptares.com
Table of Contents Feed for the Digital Edition of Pharmaceutical Executive Digest Europe - March 4, 2009 Pharmaceutical Executive Digest Europe - March 4, 2009 Contents From the Editor Training and Development Sales Opinion Calendar On the Move Pharmaceutical Executive Digest Europe - March 4, 2009 Pharmaceutical Executive Digest Europe - March 4, 2009 - Contents (Page 1) Pharmaceutical Executive Digest Europe - March 4, 2009 - From the Editor (Page 2) Pharmaceutical Executive Digest Europe - March 4, 2009 - Training and Development (Page 3) Pharmaceutical Executive Digest Europe - March 4, 2009 - Training and Development (Page 4) Pharmaceutical Executive Digest Europe - March 4, 2009 - Training and Development (Page 5) Pharmaceutical Executive Digest Europe - March 4, 2009 - Training and Development (Page 6) Pharmaceutical Executive Digest Europe - March 4, 2009 - Training and Development (Page 7) Pharmaceutical Executive Digest Europe - March 4, 2009 - Sales (Page 8) Pharmaceutical Executive Digest Europe - March 4, 2009 - Sales (Page 9) Pharmaceutical Executive Digest Europe - March 4, 2009 - Opinion (Page 10) Pharmaceutical Executive Digest Europe - March 4, 2009 - Opinion (Page 11) Pharmaceutical Executive Digest Europe - March 4, 2009 - Opinion (Page 12) Pharmaceutical Executive Digest Europe - March 4, 2009 - Calendar (Page 13) Pharmaceutical Executive Digest Europe - March 4, 2009 - On the Move (Page 14)
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