The Valley News
Chris Fleisher
October 4, 2009

Lebanon -- The new venture capital arm of software giant Google has taken an ownership stake in Lebanon biotech firm Adimab.

The amount of the investment from Google Ventures was undisclosed. Estimates quoted in The Wall Street Journal and The New York Times ranged from $10 million to $13 million. A Google Ventures partner also will join Adimab's board.

Adimab co-founder Tillman Gerngross said his company has been entertaining investment proposals over the past few months. Google emerged ahead of the pack because it seemed to have a clear understanding of the value of Adimab's work, as well as the techniques involved.

“We felt that we were really kindred spirits in how we did that,” Gerngross said in a telephone interview on Friday.

Adimab works in antibody discovery -- searching for therapeutic proteins used to treat a range of conditions, including cancer, inflammation and infectious diseases. It has found a way of doing so that is faster than other companies, navigating around intellectual property in a way that cuts what is usually a 12- to 18-month process down to around eight weeks.

Google's investment came as part of Adimab's fourth round of financing, which also included previous investors Polaris Ventures, SV Life Sciences, OrbiMed Advisors and Borealis Ventures. It also follows major deals with drug companies Merck and Roche that were announced in June, in which those companies signed on to use Adimab's technology.

This is the first investment in biotech for Google Ventures, which launched in March and has an office in Cambridge, Mass. The firm said it planned to invest about $100 million in its first year and would make life sciences a priority.

Google Ventures partner Bill Maris characterized Adimab's work as “truly groundbreaking.” In an e-mail to the Valley News, Google spokesman Andrew Pederson said it made the investment because Adimab had a “talented team that is producing revolutionary technology.”

“We're excited about any new technology that shows promise for transforming the world in a meaningful way,” Pederson said in the e-mail, “and Adimab has already pushed the pace of innovation in their industry.”

Other investors said they've continued to be impressed with Adimab's progress.

“OrbiMed has been impressed by Adimab's ability to consistently execute ahead of schedule as exemplified by their successful development of a best-in-class antibody discover platform less than three years from inception,” said Carl Gordon, a partner at OrbiMed Advisors, in a statement. “The company's recent partnerships with Merck and Roche are just another validation of this platform.”

Gerngross founded Adimab with MIT professor Dane Wittrup in 2007. Since then, it has grown to employ 45 people and works out of labs in Dartmouth's business incubator in Centerra Park.

Its fast growth and promise in the biotech industry parallels one of its predecessors at the incubator, ethanol researcher Mascoma Corp., which moved into permanent headquarters nearby on Etna Road.

Gerngross also helped launch another Upper Valley biotech firm, GlycoFi, in 2000 and sold it six years later to Merck for $400 million. Gerngross said he had no immediate intention of selling Adimab, though it is difficult to predict what the future holds.

For now, Adimab is concentrating on its partnerships and developing technology for the marketplace, Gerngross said. Adimab plans to announce several other major partnerships later this fall, he said, and exploring paths for growth.

“We're always looking at options,” he said.