Pharmstandard commits $30 million to Argos Therapeutics; post 1st-half results

Russia’s largest drugmaker Pharmstandard (PHST: RU)  that its subsidiary Pharmstandard International.(Luxembourg) has purchased 9,214,233 Series E preferred shares and 1,417,571 warrants of USA-based Argos Therapeutics for the amount of $12 million for the purpose of financing the ongoing ADAPT pivotal Phase III clinical study of the firm’s lead drug candidate AGS-003 for metastatic renal cell carcinoma (mRCC).

The total consideration for the purchase for Pharmstandard Int is $30 million and is planned in three tranches. The last $6 million tranche is conditional on positive results in Argos’ Phase III clinical study. The total sum of financing for the first tranche secured by Argos for this clinical study amounts to $42.5 million. The strategic investment is the company’s first in the US biopharmaceutical sector.

Alexandr Shuster, president of Inbio Ventures - a management company which represented Pharmstandard International in facilitating this investment round, said: “Pharmstandard´s investment in Argos is a major component of the globalization of Pharmstandard´s operations and its focus on identifying innovative cell-based therapies. Immunotherapy is increasingly recognized as a treatment that will represent a new paradigm in the management of cancer. Pharmstandard was impressed with the Argos science, management team and progress of its clinical trials in both cancer and HIV.”