California-based Jaguar Animal Health secures $2M from BVCF for initial close of Series A round

By Nicel Jane Avellana

Feb 06, 2014 09:47 AM EST

San Francisco, California-based Jaguar Animal Health Inc received $2 million to initially close its Series A funding round. China-based private equity and growth capital firm BioVeda China Fund or BVCF invested in the round and will pour another $3 million by the end of this month, a statement about the financing said.

Napo Pharmaceuticals and its existing investors gave seed funding and resources for the founding of Jaguar which concentrates on developing and commercializing veterinary products from plants that are traditionally used in rainforest areas. Its health solutions, comprised of both prescription pharmaceuticals and nutraceuticals, are geared for companion animals, racing animals as well as food and farm animals, the statement said.

Napo, a major stakeholder of Jaguar, has given the latter an exclusive worldwide license for all animal rights to Croton lechleri-developed products. Jaguar also has rights to Napo's medicinal plant library as well as its drug candidate NP-500 which has the potential to become a therapy for insulin resistant syndrome and Type II diabetes. Under the terms of the license agreement, Jaguar will get some manufacturing equipment as well as an inventory of Croton lechleri-derived products, the report said.

Funds from the latest round will go towards company operations, including studies done of a pharmaceutical compound known as SP-303 which has been isolated and purified from Croton lechleri. It will also go towards research of SB-300, a Croton lechleri-derived standardized botanical extract/nutraceutical product. Proceeds will also be deployed to finish market studies, hire more people, put up manufacturing capabilities as well as for regulatory activities, the statement said.

BVCF Founder and Managing Director Dr. Zhi Yang, MD, PhD said in the statement, "We are very pleased to be making our first investment in animal health for the world markets.  This is a focus for us and we plan to expand our portfolio of investments in companies involved in animal health and food security." 

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