History

The Genetics Company Inc. (a Swiss "Aktiengesellschaft") was founded in July 1998 based on research performed at the University of Zurich and at the Swiss Institute for Experimental Cancer Research (ISREC) in Epalinges / Lausanne. The Company became fully operational upon the closing of its Series A financing round in May of 2000 (see Financing).

Originally focused mainly on cancer, the Company in December 2002 acquired the core assets from CallistoGen AG of Berlin including small molecule hit series against Alzheimer’s disease, proprietary "in silico" medicinal chemistry tools and corresponding intellectual property. To complement its capabilities in the field of Alzheimer’s disease a further asset acquisition was executed in May 2003, bringing to its portfolio a set of newly developed products for use in the diagnosis, monitoring of drugs and also the research of Alzheimer’s disease, as well as intellectual property for novel therapeutic approaches. These assets were acquired from ABETA GmbH of Heidelberg, Germany in a cash plus shares transaction.

The Company today is pursuing the commercialization of its assets in the cancer and Alzheimer’s disease markets, both of which have an outstanding potential due to the largely unmet medical needs present. The Alzheimer’s diagnostics business is profitable and provides for substantial revenues. Its proprietary drug leads for the treatment of colorectal cancer and Alzheimer’s disease, both in pre-clinical development, represent an outstanding medium- to long-term revenue and exit potential for investors.

The Company was successful in raising a total of CHF 50.5 million in venture capital in three financing rounds since year 2000 and has therefore secured sufficient funding to develop a drug candidate into early clinical testing either independently or else with an appropriate partner.

Today the Company employs a staff of 8 and operates from a state-of-the-art facility at the Biotech Center Zurich in Schlieren in close proximity to both the University of Zurich and the ETH Zurich.

Please contact Dr. Mátyás Vegh, CEO The Genetics Company, Inc. by phone on +41 44 200 22 00 should you require any further information.

Financing

After a start-up financing of CHF 0.4 Mio in 1998, the Company became fully operational upon the closing of its Series A financing round in May 2000, which raised a total of CHF 10.5 Mio in equity. This financing round was co-led by Nextech Venture and Novartis Venture Fund and substantially backed by BPP Business Promotion Partners (all from Switzerland).

To enable the further advancement of its cancer program and to finance the acquisition of the core assets of CallistoGen AG and Abeta GmbH (both from Germany), the Company completed a CHF 14 Mio Series B financing round in November 2003. While this financing round received continuing support from the existing shareholders, new investors like Najeti Capital, a leading Spanish venture capital firm from Madrid, Heidelberg Innovation of Heidelberg, Germany and several high net worth individuals could be attracted.

A Series C financing round with a volume of CHF 25.5 Mio has been closed in February 2005 and allows for the full exploitation of the potentials of the Company’s two therapeutic programs and its Alzheimer diagnostic business. While a total of CHF 17.5 Mio has been committed upfront, an additional installment of CHF 8 Mio is associated with the achievement of certain development milestones in 2007. This financing round was co-led by Nextech Venture, Novartis Venture Fund and a major new investor, Varuma AG of Basel.