Affymax Raises $60 Million

Series D Financing Led by JAFCO and Bear Stearns Health Innoventures

19-Jul-2005

Affymax, Inc., a privately held development stage pharmaceutical company, announced that it has raised $60 million through a Series D financing co-led by new investor JAFCO Co. Ltd. and existing investor Bear Stearns Health Innoventures (BSHI). Also participating in this financing round were new investors, including Bessemer Venture Partners, Merlin BioMed Group and Diamond Capital Company, as well as existing investors Apax Partners, MPM Capital and Sprout Group. The Company also announced that Hironori Hozoji, Investment Officer of JAFCO Life Science Investment, has joined Affymax's board of directors. Montgomery & Co. LLC served as the exclusive placement agent for the Company.

"As one of the largest venture financings in biotechnology this year, this investment represents an acknowledgement of our progress and underscores the potential of our lead product candidate, Hematide(TM), which is currently being evaluated in Phase 2 clinical trials in Europe and the U.S.," said Arlene M. Morris, Affymax's president and chief executive officer. "The proceeds will give us the ability to aggressively move forward with our Phase 2 clinical program for Hematide in patients with chronic kidney disease and cancer, as well as develop our pipeline of promising peptide product candidates. We have retained 100 percent of the rights to our lead programs and expect to pursue attractive partnerships on both a regional and global basis in the near future. We believe that JAFCO's participation and support will help us secure a great partner for Hematide in Japan."

"We viewed Affymax as compelling because of the significant promise of Hematide, which is being developed for large markets and significant unmet medical needs," said Hisaji Agata, Managing Director of JAFCO.

Hematide, a synthetic, peptide-based erythropoiesis stimulating agent (ESA), is being developed for the treatment of anemia in patients with chronic kidney disease and cancer. Hematide has a novel amino acid sequence that is unrelated to erythropoietin, a hormone that stimulates red blood cell formation, or to any other known naturally-occurring human sequences. In animal and laboratory studies, Hematide has demonstrated an excellent safety and efficacy profile.

A recently completed Phase 1 clinical trial demonstrated that single doses of Hematide were well tolerated with a safety profile similar to placebo, and resulted in dose-dependent increases in circulating reticulocytes in healthy volunteers. At the highest dose tested, Hematide also achieved a clinically and statistically significant increase in hemoglobin from baseline that was sustained for at least a month. These findings are consistent with the Company's expectations that Hematide will be found to be safe, effective and well-tolerated in subsequent large scale clinical trials. Affymax recently began Phase 2 trials of Hematide to evaluate its safety, pharmacodynamics and pharmacokinetics in patients with chronic kidney disease.

"Because Hematide is a next-generation, non-recombinant product, we believe it represents an exciting new therapy that has the potential to address the debilitating effects and complications associated with chronic anemia due to kidney disease," said Hironori Hozoji, Investment Officer of JAFCO Life Science Investment in San Diego and new member of the Affymax board of directors. Mr. Hozoji has 19 years of investment experience, of which 16 are in life sciences. He joined JAFCO in 1985 and currently heads JAFCO's life science investments in North America. He is one of the most experienced Japanese venture capitalists investing in U.S. life sciences companies.

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