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Light Sciences Oncology Completes $35 Million Financing for Late Stage Development of Litx(TM)

Posted on: Wednesday, 12 October 2005, 09:00 CDT

Light Sciences Oncology, Inc., a privately held company focused on the development of Light Infusion Technology(TM) (Litx(TM)) for the treatment of solid tumors, announced today that it has completed a $35 million Series A Preferred Stock offering. The funds will be used to undertake a Phase III clinical trial for the treatment of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) pursuant to the terms of a Special Protocol Assessment (SPA) from the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA).

"With this capital infusion, we are positioned to pursue this important Phase III clinical trial for a cancer that has been inadequately addressed by available treatments in the oncology field," said Llew Keltner, M.D., Ph.D., the President and CEO of Light Sciences Oncology. "We can now build from our strong Phase II clinical results to move Litx(TM) to the ultimate goal, turning cancer into a manageable chronic disease. Litx(TM) has been shown to be a treatment which destroys tumor tissue in an outpatient procedure with virtually none of the side effects of chemotherapy or other ablative tumor therapies."

The Series A Preferred Stock financing is the first round of institutional financing for Light Sciences Oncology, which in connection with this financing has been spun out of Light Sciences Corporation, a privately held company in Seattle that developed Litx(TM) initially for several disease areas, including ophthalmology and cardiovascular disease. The investor group in Light Sciences Oncology was led by Essex Woodlands Health Ventures. Other members of the investor group include Adams Street Partners, Johnson and Johnson Development Corporation, China Development Industrial Bank, and Larkspur Capital Corporation, which acted as a private placement advisor to Light Sciences Oncology.

The Company also announced that Dr. Jeff Himawan and Dr. Craig Taylor will be joining the Board of Light Sciences Oncology:

Jeff Himawan, Ph.D., is a Managing Director at Essex Woodlands Health Ventures, a healthcare-dedicated venture capital firm. At Essex Woodlands, Dr. Himawan has led several of the firm's investments in the biotechnology arena, including investments in Symphogen (a Danish-based company with a novel, antibody-producing platform technology), Iomai (a company with a method of delivering vaccines through the skin), MediciNova (a now publicly-traded specialty pharmaceutical company), and Receptor Biologix (an early-stage oncology company). Prior to joining Essex Woodlands, Dr. Himawan was a co-founder and Managing Director of Seed-One Ventures, a venture capital firm that specializes in the initial formation, financing, and early operational development of technology-based companies. At Seed-One, Dr. Himawan created and managed several early-stage companies including Elusys Therapeutics, a New Jersey-based biotechnology company. Prior to his experiences at Seed-One Ventures, Dr. Himawan was a bench scientist with basic research experience in both industrial and academic settings. Dr. Himawan holds a B.S. degree in biology from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and obtained a Ph.D. degree in biological chemistry and molecular pharmacology from Harvard University.

Craig Taylor, Ph.D. is a Partner of Adams Street Partners, one of the largest global managers of private equity partnership investments in the world. Dr. Taylor began his R&D career with Syva Company, the diagnostics unit of Syntex (now Roche). He then spent several years as an R&D scientist with Abbott Laboratories, leading teams that developed thyroid diagnostic products for Abbott's AxSym System. After his tenure at Abbott, Dr. Taylor was a management consultant with Integral, Inc. specializing in product development performance improvement. Dr. Taylor was then with the G.D. Searle unit of Pharmacia Corporation (now Pfizer), where he assessed oncology pharmaceutical/biotech opportunities, and negotiated licensing and partnership transactions. He joined Searle as a member of the Global Cardiovascular Franchise, where he directed pre-launch marketing efforts for several cardiovascular and critical care drugs. Dr. Taylor received an MBA from the University of Chicago and a Ph.D. in Biochemistry and Molecular Biology from Georgetown University.

Drs. Taylor and Himawan join the three current members of Light Sciences Oncology's Board of Directors:

Craig Watjen, Light Sciences Corporation founder and initial investor, spent 10 years at Microsoft Corporation where he served as head of the Treasury group.

Richard Whitney, an experienced healthcare executive and private investor, is the former CFO of Da Vita, Inc., and the Executive Chairman of Specialty Laboratories.

Llew Keltner, M.D., Ph.D., with many years of health care and pharmaceutical business development and drug development experience, is one of the founders of Light Sciences Oncology, and serves as President and CEO.

About Light Sciences Oncology:

Light Sciences Oncology, Inc. (LSO) is a privately owned company incorporated in late 2004 to develop and commercialize the technology of Light Sciences Corporation in the field of oncology. LSO is targeting the treatment of primary liver cancer, liver metastases from colorectal cancer and other solid tumors. LSO has finished a global multi-center Phase II clinical trial treating patients with liver metastases due to colorectal cancer. LSO has begun enrollment for a clinical trial of Litx(TM) in patients with hepatocellular carcinoma, which is among the most malignant of cancers and afflicts more than 1,000,000 people per year worldwide. The Company intends to begin late stage trials in other therapeutic areas, including metastatic colorectal cancer and glioma.

About Light Sciences Corporation:

Light Sciences Corporation, founded in 1995, is a privately financed company which developed Litx(TM), a proprietary combination product containing a light activated drug (LS11), activated by a non-coherent light infusion device. In 2005, Light Sciences Corporation created three subsidiary companies to develop Litx(TM) in separate fields -- LSO in cancer, Visient Therapeutics, Inc. in eye disease, and Vascular Reconditioning, Inc. in cardiovascular disease.

Light Sciences(R), Litx(TM) and Light Infusion Technology(TM) are registered or proprietary marks of Light Sciences Corporation.

Source: Business Wire

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