The company won a positive article 13.5 health claims opinion from the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) for the tomato extract that is claimed to reduce blood platelet aggregation.
It is now looking to build on this success and secure the financial resources necessary to pursue acquisitions in the functional and medical food space.
Drawing down on its Equity Financing Facility with Darwin Strategic Limited, the UK-based company has raised net proceeds of £2,394,825. This additional funding gives the firm a pot of net cash of £8.7m with which to accelerate R&D efforts and fund potential acquisitions.
Three new hires
The company has already hired three new research scientists including Dr Lucinda Cordeira who has joined this month as R&D director for new technologies. The other new hires include Dr Patrick Druggan, who from will be leading the gastrointestinal R&D team in Liverpool from December, and Farhana Rahma, who will lead formulation development across the pipeline.
Meanwhile, work continues on the development of new products. Provexis said new funds will help facilitate the conclusion of Crohn’s disease trials in 2011, and support upcoming trials with the Institute of Food Research (IFR) on the use of plant-derived extracts to reduce cardiovascular inflammation and with the University of Liverpool on hospital superbug Clostridium difficile.
Potential acquisitions
As for acquisitions, CEO Stephen Moon told NutraIngredients.com: “We are looking for potential acquisitions to strengthen further our pipeline of functional and medical food technologies and are screening a range of technologies and companies to find assets which fit with our criteria.”