Norgine Ventures Completes £2 Million Debt Financing With Internis

London. 10 September 2013.
Norgine Ventures today announced that it has provided debt financing of £2 million to Internis Pharmaceuticals. This funding recognises the potential of Internis, an exciting and innovative British start-up company. Norgine Ventures is a business entity of Norgine, a well-established independent pan-European pharmaceutical company.

Norgine Ventures’ backing will enable Internis to accelerate its new product development programme and to expand its presence in the manufacturing of medicines aimed at preventing a range of common bone disorders.

As a new UK pharmaceutical company, founded in 2010, Internis has bucked the economic trend of the last three years. The company launched the first fully licensed prescription vitamin D3 oral product to the NHS in 2012, FultiumD3. Since launch this product has enjoyed widespread success and has maintained its brand leadership in this new market. In the last twelve months, sales of Fultium have exceeded £2.3million.

Peter Stein, Norgine CEO, said:

“We have been impressed by the Internis team, their strategy and the progress that they have made to develop and establish a strong position in the vitamin D3 prescription market.

He added:

“This new investment furthers Norgine Ventures’ strategy to combine our commitment to the healthcare sector and our strong balance sheet to foster innovation while generating financial returns for our venture debt fund.”

Joint Internis CEO Alan Walker, an industry veteran with previous experience at Warner Lambert and ProStrakan, said:

“FultiumD3 is creating a new and important market that is meeting a significant unmet demand in the UK. Many of the UK population, particularly in the Northern latitudes need D3 and FultiumD3, being the first fully licensed product, offers guarantees of quality and safety that unlicensed over-the-counter products cannot match.”

Joint Internis CEO Charles Tannenbaum, who has extensive background in the pharmaceutical industry in both South Africa and the UK, added:

“We are delighted to have Norgine Ventures as a strategic partner. Internis is committed to developing products which deliver substantial improvements to patients’ health and quality of life and these funds will enable us to bring our new range of high quality products to the market even more quickly.”

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Notes to Editors:

For further information please contact:
Charles Tannenbaum, Internis – 07713 568294 – cmtannenbaum@internispharma.com
Alan Walker, Internis – 07590 259941 – awalker@internispharma.com
Julien Michaux, Norgine Ventures, +44 (0)1895826600, jmichaux@norgine.com
Isabelle Jouin, Norgine Corporate Communications – 01895 453 643 – ijouin@norgine.com

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About Norgine and Norgine Ventures
Norgine is a successful, independent European specialty pharmaceutical company that has been established for over 100 years and has a presence in all major European markets. In 2012, Norgine’s net product sales were c€250 million and the company employed over 1,000 people.

Norgine’s focus is the development and marketing of pharmaceutical products that address significant unmet clinical needs in therapeutic areas such as gastroenterology, hepatology, critical and supportive care. Norgine owns a manufacturing and development site in Hengoed, UK and a manufacturing site in Dreux, France.

For more information: www.norgine.com.

Norgine Ventures was started in 2012 to diversify Norgine’s activities and to foster innovation in the healthcare sector. Norgine Ventures provides debt and debt-like financing to innovative, fast growing companies in the fields of healthcare and life sciences, in Europe and the US.

For more information: www.norgineventures.com.

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About Internis Pharmaceuticals – www.internispharma.com
Internis is an exciting and innovative British start-up business. Founded in 2010, it is a pharmaceutical company engaged in the development and commercialisation of highly effective and innovative new medicines aimed at the treatment and prevention of a range of common bone disorders, such as osteoporosis and vitamin D3 deficiency.

Internis supplies a prescription only licensed medicine (FultiumD3) to treat patients with a vitamin D deficiency. Vitamin D is offered to at-risk groups on prescription to prevent the health risks associated with a deficiency or insufficiency. It is estimated that up to a quarter of the population in the UK have low levels of vitamin D in their blood – with deficiency linked to conditions including bone deformities and health complications such as depression, joint pain, migraines, fatigue and a weakened immune system.

As a licensed medicine FultiumD3 has demonstrated a well-defined safety profile and its use is subject to the UK’s strict safety monitoring and reporting procedures for medicinal products. Unlicensed products have not undergone the rigorous safety assessments overseen by the Medicines Healthcare Regulatory Agency (MHRA) and their use, when an effective licensed treatment is available, exposes patients to unnecessary safety risks and clinicians to greater medico-legal liability.