Pittsboro-based Biolex Therapeutics, which dropped a plan for an initial public offering of stock last year amid the nationwide economic downturn, has secured a $10.5 million growth capital loan from two out-of-state financial institutions.
Biolex, which is advancing development of its unique system for producing human therapeutics through lemna, a common aquatic plant also known as duckweed, landed the loans from Silicon Valley Bank, of California, and Oxford Finance Corporation, of Virginia. The company plans to use the capital to help fund the development of its pipeline of therapeutic candidates.
Biolex was founded on technology developed by Anne-Marie Stomp, Ph.D., with help from a $100,000 loan from the North Carolina Biotechnology Center. Stomp was recruited to North Carolina State University in 1986 on a Faculty Recruitment Grant from the Biotechnology Center, because of her expertise in forestry research. But she later took an interest in duckweed -- a plant that grows significantly faster than trees.
Stomp's research created the protein-production technology that was ultimately licensed to Biolex. With the newest loans, the company has subsequently brought in some $125 million in venture and partnership funding.