Chlorogen, Inc., a venture-backed biopharmaceutical company focused on the development and manufacture of proteins for human therapy, has secured $6 million in additional venture funding. The company, which secured an initial $5.8 million in venture funding in 2003, will use the Series B investment to finance development of its lead product candidates, which include protein-based therapies for gynecological cancers.

Four leading venture capital companies - Burrill & Co. of San Francisco, Harris & Harris Group of New York, Prolog Ventures of St. Louis, and Redmont Venture Partners of Birmingham, Ala.- funded the Series A investment. Finistere Partners LLC of San Diego joined these investors in the Series B funding.

Chlorogen, produces therapeutic proteins in tobacco using chloroplast transformation technology (CTT(TM)). Transforming the chloroplasts of plant cells greatly increases the protein output of plants. This could yield a more cost-effective supply of proteins for therapeutic uses compared with other transformation systems. Another advantage of CTT is the fact that chloroplast DNA is not inherited through pollen, which can significantly limit the potential for foreign genes to be transferred to non-transgenic crops or other sexually compatible plants.

Since receiving its initial venture funding in May of 2003, Chlorogen has used tobacco chloroplast technology to develop several candidates for pre-clinical evaluation. The company has successfully produced a molecule from the TGF-beta superfamily, a large group of hard-to-produce soluble extracellular proteins that can direct a wide range of cellular responses. Chlorogen is actively pursuing a commercial TGF-beta candidate as a cancer therapy.

In addition, Chlorogen has secured exclusive rights to competing technology and developed its own intellectual property around the chloroplast-tobacco platform to create a patent estate that provides the company with an impenetrable position with respect to plastid transformation of all plant forms. The company has licensed its patented technology to several leading companies for commercial use in food and agriculture.

"With this significant new investment in our company's future, we are well positioned to build on the tremendous successes we have had during the past two years," said Dr. David N. Duncan, Chlorogen's President and Chief Executive Officer.

"Chlorogen, with its unique technology, continues to make excellent progress," said Jerry Caulder of Finistere Partners, who also is chairman of the Chlorogen board of directors. "The company is poised to become a key provider of high-value therapeutic proteins."

Burrill & Co. invests across the entire spectrum of life sciences. This includes human healthcare biotechnology, agricultural biotechnology, nutraceuticals, human healthcare diagnostics, biomaterials and bioprocesses. The company has invested in more than 30 companies and manages a family of venture capital funds, with more than $340 million under management.

Finistere Partners is an investment firm that focuses on early stage investments in the medical device and agricultural biotechnology areas.

Harris & Harris Group is a publicly traded venture capital company that makes initial investments exclusively in tiny technology, including nanotechnology, microsystems and microelectromechanical systems (MEMS). The company's last 26 initial private equity investments have been in tiny technology-enabled companies.

Prolog Ventures is an early-stage venture capital firm specializing in life sciences and related information technologies. Prolog's portfolio companies are providing innovative solutions in the areas of biotechnology, medical devices, diagnostics, technology-enabled services, and products for nutrition and wellness. The managers of Prolog bring to the table broad experience in all aspects of new enterprise creation, both as investors and principals.

Redmont Venture Partners invests in technology-based companies throughout the Southeast through various funds, including the Paradigm fund, through which the Chlorogen investment was made. Based in Birmingham, Redmont focuses on early-stage companies and is most often involved in the founding of the companies in which it invests.