NovaMed Secures $13.8M In Series B Funding Led By Fidelity Asia Ventures And Fidelity Biosciences

NovaMed Pharmaceuticals Inc., a China-based provider of outsourced development and commercialization services for leading global and local pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies, announced recently that it has secured $13.8M in a Series B round of funding, bringing the total raised in one year to nearly $20M. The fund was led by newly involved investors, Fidelity Asia Ventures and its US affiliate, Fidelity Biosciences, with participation from returning investor Atlas Venture.

Founded in 2005, NovaMed offers a broad range of services to leading international pharmaceutical and biotechnology firms in China, which is today's foremost target for global drug development and commercial growth. These services include facilitating the outsourcing of clinical research to China, registering unique and new chemical entities for the China market, as well as commercializing and distributing products for multinationals in China. NovaMed's unique business model allows international drug brands to realize both significant cost advantages and the full potential of China's pharmaceutical market, where a 16.3% annual growth rate is predicted, overtaking the country's overall healthcare spending. The additional funding reflects global investors' increasing excitement and recognition of the growth potential of the China market.

Over just the past few months, NovaMed has entered into a number of strategic alliances with multinational pharmaceutical companies in China including Sanofi-Aventis, Baxter and Meda, thereby expanding and strengthening its product lines in oncology, diabetes, respiratory, urology and central nervous system diseases. NovaMed's services for pharmaceutical multinationals, supported by a network of best-in-class research, development, regulatory, and distribution partners in China, work to accelerate drug development and approval processes of Western-based drugs to benefit China's patients and medical professionals.

Mark Lotter, CEO and co-founder of NovaMed, commented, "Series B funding marks a significant milestone in NovaMed's business development in China. It allows us to continually expand and strengthen our portfolio in a number of important therapeutic areas as well as playing an increasingly stronger role in China's drug development landscape." He added, "We are thrilled to have our new top tier investors, Fidelity Asia Ventures and Fidelity Biosciences, on board in addition to the continued support from our first institutional investor, Atlas Venture. The enthusiasm and interest from our new and existing investors represents a vote of confidence in our strategic and unique approach to China's fast-growing pharmaceutical market."

Proceeds from Series B funding will be used to finance the in licensing of new molecules for China, expand sales and distribution operations, as well as strengthen medical research and development capacity.

Norman Chen, Partner at Fidelity Asia Ventures said, "Fidelity Asia Ventures and Fidelity Biosciences are delighted to have the opportunity to invest in NovaMed, which we see as the leader in the China specialty pharmaceutical industry. We look forward to utilizing our global life sciences expertise to further refine and develop NovaMed's platform of high-quality, proprietary drugs for China. We are committed to working with NovaMed to bring this exciting business to its next stage of development."

According to Zina Affas, Principal at Atlas Venture, "NovaMed has continued to demonstrate effective execution capabilities through in-licensing of further programs from multinationals. This has allowed the rapid raising of a Series B investment following our Series A investment in May 2007. Our continued support for the company through investment in the Series B demonstrates our strong belief in the capabilities of the team and the potential of the company to develop and deliver products to the Chinese market." She continued, "We have utilized our worldwide life sciences capabilities to help NovaMed to grow and are delighted to be joined by Fidelity Asia Ventures and Fidelity BioSciences who, as well as supporting the company financially, have already brought their local and global expertise to the company. We look forward to working with NovaMed to help to create a leading specialty pharmaceutical company in China."

Bo Shao, Chairman and Co Founder added, "We are very excited to move forward with this outstanding team, drawing on Fidelity Asia Ventures' unmatched investment and industry experience in China, and the extensive life science expertise of both Fidelity Biosciences and Atlas Venture. We are confident that with our unique approach and their valuable guidance, NovaMed will sustain its rapid growth in 2008, continuing to lead and drive development of the specialty pharmaceutical industry in China."

About NovaMed
NovaMed Pharmaceuticals was founded in August 2005 to provide one-stop-shop service for global pharmaceutical companies and brand owners looking to leverage cost advantage and achieve optimal market potential in China. Through a directly managed sales organization of 300 people strong and growing and an exclusive network of best-in-class research, development, regulatory and distribution partners, NovaMed has built viable commercialization models for products at different stages of their life cycle. These include products already commercially available in China, internationally approved products not yet registered in China, and in-license late stage development compounds. For more information, visit www.novamed.com.cn.

About Atlas Venture
Atlas Venture is a leading early-stage international venture capital firm that invests in technology and life sciences businesses in the U.S., Europe and Asia. Since inception in 1980, its partners have helped build over 300 companies in more than 15 different countries. Since 1990, 44 portfolio companies have been acquired and 40 are now public companies with an aggregate market capitalization of over $12B. Atlas Venture is currently investing from its seventh fund and manages over $2.5B in capital through offices in Boston, London, Munich, and Paris. Atlas Venture's life sciences team has been an early investor in close to 100 biotechnology, pharmaceutical and medical device companies. The active portfolio comprises approximately thirty-five life sciences companies today and several new investments are made each year, from seed stage to pre-IPO stage. Atlas Venture's past life sciences investments include companies such as Actelion Pharmaceuticals ; Alnylam Pharmaceuticals ; Crucell ; deCODE genetics ; Exelixis ; Momenta MorphoSys ; Newron and Renovo . For more information, visit www.atlasventure.com.

About Fidelity Asia Ventures
Fidelity Asia Ventures (FAV) is the Asian venture and growth capital arm of Fidelity International Ltd. (FIL), a part of the global Fidelity investment organization. FAV is among the earliest and most successful institutional investors in private, growth companies in China and has actively invested predominantly FIL proprietary capital in both the information technology and healthcare sectors throughout Asia for nearly 14 years, with a longstanding focus on China. More recently it has established a substantial capital pool for investment in growing private companies in India. FAV's current mission is to invest principally in high-quality, high-growth companies broadly in the information technology, healthcare and consumer sectors in China and India. FAV's investment teams in Hong Kong, Beijing, Shanghai and Mumbai are among the most experienced in the Asia-Pacific region. Current investments and recent exits include: Alibaba Holdings, Pharmanex (Acquired by Nu Skin), Wuxi PharmaTech, Hurray!, Linktone, AsiaInfo, Dianji Technology, CDP, Datuu, Xunlei, Isoftstone and Asia Renal Care (acquired by Bumrungrad International). For more information, please visit: www.fidelityasiaventures.com.

About Fidelity Biosciences
Fidelity Biosciences invests venture capital in private biopharmaceutical and medical technology companies. We are a division of Fidelity Investments, one of the world's leading providers of financial services. For more than 30 years, Fidelity Investments has been a significant presence in the venture capital and private equity industry, investing the firm's own capital since 1969. This provides us with the flexibility and capabilities of traditional venture capital firms while eliminating the additional pressures of fundraising. The result is a clear focus on building long-term value for Fidelity, our management partners, and co-investors. We are engaged investors and board members, seeking to add value by providing strategic guidance and assistance to management throughout the process of building successful businesses. We possess the energy and entrepreneurial spirit of a start-up enterprise, while bringing to bear the considerable strengths and resources of Fidelity Investments. For more information, please visit: www.fidelitybiosciences.com.

SOURCE: NovaMed Pharmaceuticals Inc.