The Swedish company Pharmalink has raised SEK 96 million to undertake pivotal studies with lead programs in cancer therapy and renal disease.

Pharmalink, a specialty pharma company focused on orphan and niche products, today announces it has raised SEK96 million (€11m / US$15m) in a Series C financing round. The round was co-led by two of the Nordic region’s largest venture investors: Investinor, which is a new investor in Pharmalink, and Industrifonden, a current investor. Other existing investors also participated.

Johan Häggblad, Managing Director of Pharmalink, said: “We are very pleased to have successfully raised these new funds. Our lead programs with Busulipo and Nefecon have progressed well and we are now focused on completing the final stages of their development and preparing for submissions to regulatory authorities. Moving into this new phase, we are looking to enhance our product portfolio in oncology and inflammation and have identified several complementary niche and orphan product opportunities that are available for commercialisation in the Nordic region. With the support of our investors, we look forward to building on our development expertise and sales and marketing heritage, and establishing Pharmalink as a leading specialty pharma company in Northern Europe.”

Ann-Tove Kongsnes, Investinor, said: “We are delighted to support Pharmalink as it embarks on this next stage of its development. The Company has significant experience in developing and commercialising specialty pharma products, and in Busulipo and Nefecon, it has two more products with great potential to be successful. We hope that the perspective we bring from Norway, where we have deep contacts within centres of excellence such as the Oslo Cancer Cluster, can lead to additional opportunities for development for the company. We are particularly pleased to co-invest with Industrifonden, with which we have recently announced a collaborative investment strategy to advance life sciences in the Nordic region.”

Lennart Hansson, Industrifonden, said: “Pharmalink has demonstrated its development expertise and commercial awareness through the development and sale of Xepol in 2010 and the development of Busulipo and Nefecon, which are both approaching key development milestones. In this company and management team, we see an opportunity to create a fast-growing and sustainable specialty pharma company based in the Nordic region.”