KAHR Medical, a Hadasit Bio-Holdings Portfolio Company, to Raise $2.5M

JERUSALEM, Sept. 11, 2013 /PRNewswire/ -- Hadasit Bio-Holdings (TASE: HDST, OTC: HADSY) a publicly traded portfolio of biotech companies, based on intellectual property developed and owned by the Hadassah University Hospital, today announced that KAHR Medical Ltd. ("KAHR"), a portfolio company in which Hadasit Bio hold approximately 55%, will raise $2.5M at a valuation of $13.5M pre-money. Of the investment, $1.65M will be invested by Flerie Invest AB, a company controlled by Thomas Eldered, co-owner of Recipharm (www.recipharm.com), one of the largest pharmaceutical Contract Development and Manufacturing Organizations (CDMO) in Europe.  Sanofi, the third largest pharmaceutical company in the world, will maintain its current holdings with an investment of $500K and Hadasit Bio will invest an additional $200K. An additional $150K will be offered as a one year option to Flerie and Hadasit Bio.

Dr. Rafi Hofstein, Chairman of Hadasit Bio-Holdings: "We are happy to announce the closing of this important financing for KAHR. This funding will allow the company to advance its lead product into a Phase I trial – thus proving the groundbreaking science and technology within a controlled clinical setting. We are proud of the strong partnerships the company has established with Sanofi and Flerie and look forward to working together in order to move this promising drug platform towards commercialization."

Dr. Noam Shani, CEO of KAHR: "We are especially excited about this investment because we are planning a first-in-men clinical trial with KAHR-102 in Lymphoma patients and this investment should allow its completion. The partnerships we have formed with major strategic partners such as Mr. Eldered, co-founder and CEO of one of the leading pharmaceutical CDMOs in Europe, and with Sanofi, the third largest global pharmaceutical company, have already proven to be one of our greatest assets. We are now positioned towards the clinical stage of development."

Following the investment, Sanofi, Flerie Invest AB and Hadasit Bio will hold approximately 20%, 24% and 48% of KAHR shares, respectively.

KAHR Medical is developing a technology platform known as SCP (Signal Converter Proteins), which allows the construction of protein-based drugs with two functional sides. In contrast to current biological drugs that possess only one functional side, the two functional sides of SCPs allow these drugs to block or activate two reinforcing biological signals at the same time. The SCP platform forms a new generation of biological drugs with great diversity and superior efficacy.

KAHR's leading products, KAHR-101 and KAHR-102, are in pre-clinical development towards treatment of several cancers and autoimmune diseases and are expected to enter clinical trials next year.

About KAHR Medical:

KAHR develops novel drugs that are based on the SCP (Signal Converter Proteins) platform technology for the treatment of cancer and autoimmune diseases. The company's technology is based on many years of research by Dr. Michal Dranitzki Elhalel, Head of Nephrology and a senior researcher at the Hadassah Medical Center, and Professor Mark Tykocinski, Dean of the School of Medicine at Jefferson University in Philadelphia and former Chief of Pathology at the University of Pennsylvania. KAHR Medical is managed by Dr. Noam Shani.

For more information please visit - www.kahr-medical.com

About Hadasit Bio-Holdings:

Hadasit Bio-Holdings, Ltd., established in 2006, is the publicly traded subsidiary of Hadasit Ltd. - the technology transfer company of the Hadassah University Hospital, Israel's foremost medical research center. The Company was established for the purpose of promoting and commercializing the intellectual property and R&D capabilities generated by Hadassah.

HADSY is the domestically traded ADR of Hadasit Bio-Holdings, a public investment vehicle of six portfolio biotech companies all based on inventions developed by Hadassah.  Hadasit Bio-Holdings focuses on advancing companies that have already shown proof of concept and successful preclinical trials to completion of Phase I/II.

The portfolio companies develop drugs with blockbuster potential (targeting markets that are worth over a billion dollars) operating in the fields of cancer, inflammatory diseases and tissue regeneration using stem cells - areas in which the Hadassah Hospital has extensive knowledge and recognition as a global leader.

For more information please visit:  www.hbl.co.il

Investor Contact
KCSA Strategic Communications
Phil Carlson / Josh Dver
212-896-1233 / 212-896-1239
[email protected] / [email protected]

SOURCE Hadasit Bio-Holdings