Pronutria Biosciences Announces $42.5 Million Equity Investment from Nestlé Health Science

CAMBRIDGE MA – February 23, 2016 / BUSINESS WIRE / – Pronutria Biosciences Inc., a biotechnology company pioneering first-in-class medicines for serious conditions linked to amino acid imbalances, announced today that it has completed a $42.5 million investment by Nestlé Health Science.

The proceeds from this financing will help to fund the ongoing rapid transformation of the company from a unique and revolutionary platform to late stage clinical candidates in several disease indications.

“We are delighted with the support from Nestlé Health Science and recognition of the rapid progress we have made towards the clinic with several lead candidates,” said Robert Connelly, President and CEO of Pronutria. “We intend to demonstrate the breadth of our technology by expanding the existing muscle, neurological and liver disease programs.”

“We are forging an innovation frontier for nutritional therapy in healthcare and the paradigm-changing science at Pronutria is a perfect fit for our goals of improving patient health with new approaches that have broad application,” said Greg Behar, Nestlé Health Science CEO. Alongside the investment he will join the Pronutria board of directors.

“Our experience with Nestlé Health Science is that they are an excellent and committed partner with an innovative vision of the future of patient care,” said Dr. Noubar Afeyan, CEO of Flagship Ventures, and co-founder and Chairman of Pronutria. “We look forward to working closely with them to expand this relationship for generating meaningful patient and economic value.”

ABOUT PRONUTRIA BIOSCIENCES

Pronutria is pioneering first-in-class medicines to treat or cure serious conditions where cell homeostasis has been disrupted by amino acid imbalances. We achieve this by using a systems pharmacology approach to deliver disease-specific amino acid compositions that improve the function of biological pathways and regenerate health. This revolutionary new field has the potential to address critical unmet medical needs for the patients of more than 2,000 diseases where amino acids play a central role. We are developing the first oral biologics, derived from the food proteome, that deliver disease-specific amino acid compositions to restore balance in disease pathways, regenerating cell function and transforming lives. We have reimagined the discovery process by combining a proprietary platform of over one billion potential candidates with the tools and expertise to select and advance multiple lead candidates into human studies with unprecedented speed. Our platform is already validated across several indication areas with clinical-stage medicines in muscle, neurodegenerative and liver conditions. We are developing both therapeutics and nutritional supplements. The company was founded within VentureLabs, the Innovation Foundry at Flagship Ventures, and received additional funding from Fidelity Research & Management Group and Gurnet Point Capital. Pronutria Biosciences is based in Cambridge MA. For more information, please visit www.pronutriabio.com.

ABOUT NESTLÉ HEALTH SCIENCE

Nestlé Health Science, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Nestlé, is a health-science company engaged in advancing the role of nutritional therapy to change the course of health for consumers, patients and its partners in healthcare. Nestlé Health Science’s portfolio of nutrition solutions, diagnostics, devices and drugs, targets a number of health areas, such as inborn errors of metabolism, pediatric and acute care, obesity care, healthy aging as well as gastrointestinal and brain health. Through investing in innovation and leveraging leading edge science, Nestlé Health Science employs around 3,000 people worldwide and is headquartered in Epalinges (near Lausanne), Switzerland. For more information, please visit: www.nestlehealthscience.com.