LOS ANGELES, Feb. 27, 2012 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- C3 Jian, Inc., a private company focused on providing improved oral healthcare, announced today that it has closed its most recent equity financing, raising total proceeds of $30 million. The Company expects to use the proceeds to advance its lead product, C16G2, a peptide drug targeting dental caries, into human clinical trials in the United States. The Company is planning to file an Investigational New Drug Application (IND) with the U.S. Food and Drug Administration in April. Proceeds from the financing will also be used to support production development and scale-up, GMP manufacturing, as well as final development and clinical testing of a hand held diagnostic product related to C16G2.
The Company will also continue to invest in its pipeline of new proprietary peptide product candidates based on its platform technology. C3 Jian is the worldwide exclusive licensee of patents covering a cell signaling platform technology from The Regents of the University of California. Dr. Wenyuan Shi, a professor at the University of California, Los Angeles School of Dentistry and C3 Jian's co-Founder, is one of the inventors of the technology. C3 Jian has used the platform to identify a variety of drug leads, including peptides that have the potential to re-mineralize teeth, in addition to promoting nail and hair growth. The Company maintains a significant portfolio of intellectual property with over 70 patents issued and pending worldwide.
C3 Jian previously announced it will occupy a 35,000 sq. foot biotechnology facility located in Marina del Rey. The building is fully built-out as a first class biotechnology research and development facility, with GMP manufacturing capacity. C3 Jian expects to move to the new facility in May.
All three current primary shareholders of C3 Jian, Wyssta Investments, Inc., Renaissance Health Services Corp., and Corvesta, Inc., participated in the financing. In addition to their other businesses, each of the shareholders is affiliated with or owns at least one company that underwrites dental insurance.
"We are very grateful to our shareholders and honored by the confidence they have shown in C3J," said Todd R. Patrick, C3 Jian's President and CEO. "We intend on maximizing the value of the Company by advancing our products into human clinical trials. Although we may seek strategic partners for the ultimate commercialization, these funds give us the wherewithal to take the programs quite far in clinical development while maintaining full control and ownership."
About C3 Jian, Inc.
C3 Jian is a clinical-stage biotechnology company developing and commercializing novel products to diagnose, treat and prevent diseases related to oral health. C3 is advancing targeted proprietary solutions, which can offer more selective, efficacious and safer treatment modalities for dental applications. The Company's platform cell signaling technology has potential applications beyond oral health and may impact a variety of diseases and disorders particularly related to bacterial and fungal infections. C3 Jian is based in Los Angeles, California. For more information about the company, please visit www.c3-jian.com.
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