Avera Pharmaceuticals - News Archive

Avera Pharmaceuticals Completes $16 Million Series A Financing; Names Jeffrey F. McKelvy as President and CEO
SAN DIEGO - May 22, 2002

Avera Pharmaceuticals, Inc., a neuropharmaceutical licensing and development company, today announced that it has completed a $16 million Series A venture capital financing led by Frazier Healthcare Ventures. Also included among the investors were Bay City Capital, InterWest Partners, Windamere Venture Partners, LLC, St. Paul Venture Capital, and BTG, plc.

Concomitant with the closing of the financing, Avera named to the Company's Board of Directors: Patrick Heron, Partner, Frazier Healthcare Ventures; Carl Goldfischer, M.D., Managing Director, Bay City Capital; Chris Ehrlich, Senior Associate, InterWest Partners; and Scott Glenn, Managing Partner, Windamere Venture Partners, LLC. Also on the Avera Board of Directors are Daniel Kisner, M.D., Chairman, Caliper Technologies, Corp. (NASDQ: CALP), who serves as Chairman, and Jeffrey F. McKelvy, Ph.D., President and Chief Executive Officer of Avera. Dr. McKelvy brings to Avera a 25-year career of drug discovery and development in the neurosciences field, both as an executive and a research scientist in the corporate and academic environments. Prior to joining the founding team of Avera, Dr. McKelvy was Vice President of Merck Research Laboratories and Site Head for Merck's San Diego site following Merck's acquisition of SIBIA Neurosciences, Inc., where he had served as Executive Vice President, Chief Scientific Officer and Director.

"We are very excited to be partnered with Avera," said Patrick Heron. "The Company's experienced team is pursuing a promising strategy of in-licensing and developing novel pharmaceutical compounds in the neuroscience therapeutics arena, at a time when a significant number of major pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies are actively evaluating out licensing opportunities for products and technologies. Today, it is common for attractive drug candidates at all stages of development to be shelved solely because sales expectations fail to meet larger pharmaceutical company thresholds. Avera plans to identify and acquire compounds that may be active in limited, well-defined patient populations, yet are believed to have broader potential application to both neurological and psychiatric disorders with larger patient populations."

Added Jeffrey McKelvy, "We are pleased to be funded and supported by such a strong group of investors. As a result of this funding, we are well-capitalized to execute our business plan to license and develop pharmaceuticals for the neurotherapeutics marketplace. In addition to providing financial resources to Avera, our valued investors bring substantial pharmaceutical experience and expertise to our endeavor, and we welcome their ongoing role in our company."

Avera Pharmaceuticals, Inc.
Avera Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (San Diego, CA) is a private, emerging pharmaceutical company focused on the development and commercialization of novel compounds in the neuroscience therapeutics arena. The Company's mission is to identify opportunities for therapeutic advances in the treatment of neurologic and psychiatric disorders, and to in-license and develop compounds that can meet these needs. Additional information on the Company can be found at www.averapharm.com.

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