Caprion Pharmaceuticals Raises US$33.4 Million in Private Placement

On December 1, 2000, Montreal-based Caprion Pharmaceuticals Inc. (Caprion), a biotechnology company involved in proteomics, the study of the nature and function of all proteins, raised US$33.4 million in the largest ever private placement for an independent Canadian biotechnology company. The private placement was managed by Yorkton Securities Inc. and included lead investors such as venture capital firm Ventures West, and Fidelity Management & Research Company, on behalf of funds and accounts managed by it.

Caprion’s current programs include the first diagnostic products for BSE (Mad Cow Disease) and its human strain Creutzfeldt-Jakob Disease (vCJD), as well as earlier stage diagnostics and therapeutics programs in Alzheimer’s Disease and Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS).

Stikeman Elliott’s Montreal office represented Caprion with a team that included Sidney Horn, France Margaret Bélanger and Louis Morisset. LaBarge Weinstein represented Yorkton Securities Inc. with a team composed of Mike Dunleavy and Philippe Ugnat. Ventures West was represented by Cameron Rusaw of Davies Ward Phillips & Vineberg LLP, while a team from Osler, Hoskin & Harcourt LLP, comprised of Craig Wright, Derek Keay and Alex Kilgour, represented Fidelity Management & Research Companies.