Diatos gets funding from Japanese VC

French biopharmaceutical company Diatos has received €2.5m (US$2.8m) - in part from existing investors and in part from a new investor, NIF Ventures, the leading Japanese venture capital company. This investment completes the present round of venture funding and brings the total amount raised by Diatos in 2003 to €9m ($10m).

These funds will be used for the development of the company's lead anticancer therapies, based on its proprietary drug-targeting and intracellular-delivery technologies.

'European technology companies and, in particular, the European biotech sector are attractive investment areas, yet they are often overlooked by Asian private equity investors,' said Mizuhiko Hashimoto, general manager of NIF Ventures.

Diatos has two core technology platforms: Diatos Peptide Vector (DPV) technology enables selective cellular or nuclear uptake of a broad range of therapeutic compounds, including small molecules, peptides and proteins; while Tumor Selective Prodrug (TSP) technology enables the release of anti-cancer agents at the sites of tumour cells.