Edison Pharmaceuticals Closes Series B Financing

Accelerates Growth of Mitochondrial Medicines Company SAN JOSE, Calif., Aug. 2 /PRNewswire/ -- Edison Pharmaceuticals, Inc.,a privately held biotechnology company located in San Jose, CA, announcedtoday, the close of $4.25M Series B Preferred Stock Offering. The financingwas led by Mr. Carl Berg, Berg & Berg Enterprises, LLC. New investorsinclude John W. Marriott, III, President and CEO of JWM, LP, and JWM FamilyEnterprises. Terms of the financing were not disclosed. Edison's initial clinical focus is inherited mitochondrial diseases.These indications represent an attractive therapeutic starting point giventhe orphan nature of the clinical populations and applicability of Edison'sredox drugs to these conditions. "With a strong balance sheet, development partners, and technologyalliances in place, Edison is well positioned to execute on its plan,"stated Guy Miller, MD, PhD, Chairman and CEO of Edison Pharmaceuticals."Capital derived from this financing will allow us to broaden our orphanmitochondrial drug mission, and explore utility in non-orphan ischemic,inflammatory, metabolic and neurodegenerative diseases where the role ofredox therapeutics and mitochondrial mechanisms are suggested, but not yetsuccessfully reduced to practice." Capital raised from the Series B financing will be used to expedite thetranslation of three pre-clinical compounds into development. Edisonanticipates, through its recently announced partnership with PenwestPharmaceuticals, that Penwest will advance its first drug candidate,EPI-A0001, into clinical development in early 2008. Additional late stagepre-clinical compounds are anticipated to enter development for orphaninherited mitochondrial diseases in 2008 and 2009. While antioxidants have been recognized for their generalized healthand anti-aging benefits, there has been an inability to translate thisimportant class of compounds to effective drugs. Edison is addressing thisneed by reverse-engineering antioxidants to improve upon their redox andpharmacological properties. Edison's first clinical development effort hascentered on the coenzyme Q10 chemical template, given its pivotal role inmitochondrial function and clinical data suggesting utility in multiplemitochondrial diseases. The company is advancing additional redox-templatesthrough its discovery pipeline. About Edison Pharmaceuticals Edison Pharmaceuticals, Inc., a privately held biotechnology company,based in Silicon Valley at the San Jose BioCenter, is focused on drugstargeting the mitochondria -- the cell's energy center. Edison's technologyplatform consists of a specialized knowledge in redox therapeutics andtranslational pharmacology, pivotal to targeting cellular energymetabolism. The Company's initial focus is on inherited diseases of themitochondrial respiratory chain, and leveraging insights derived therein,to pursue non-orphan diseases that share common mechanisms. Edison hasobtained substantial peer-reviewed grants from multiple foundations and theNIH.