Corixa completes $15 mil. initial venture capital financing round; Muc-1 antigen in Phase I for cancers.

Executive Summary

CORIXA SECURES $15 MILL. IN INITIAL ROUND OF VENTURE CAPITAL FUNDING under the stewardship of President and CEO Steven Gillis, PhD. The private financing was provided by five West Coast venture firms: Enterprise Partners (Newport Beach, Calif.), Interwest Partners (Menlo Park, Calif.), Olympic Venture Partners (Kirkland, Wash.), Forward Ventures (San Diego) and Kleiner Perkins Caufield and Byers (Menlo Park). Gillis was the founder of Immunex and served as the Seattle-based biotech's exec VP-R&D. Corixa, also based in Seattle, was founded in September 1994. Gillis was acting CEO of Immunex following its merger with Lederle in 1993. He resumed his exec VP duties when Lederle exec Edward Fritzby was named Immunex chairman and CEO in January 1994.