Birk Venture

Birk Venture is a private evergreen investment company with a long term and flexible investment approach We can invest in life science companies both in early stage as well as companies in more developed stage

We want to build a diversified portfolio of companies in the life science sector There are some important characteristics and elements that needs to be in place before we invest in a company:

• Innovative technology addressing a clear global medical need
• The technology or product has achieved proof of concept and/or has a strong acceptance in the international scientific environment
• Management and Founders represent an excellent platform for development and commercialization of the technology or company
• A robust financial plan among investors in order to secure medium to long term funding

Birk Venture has a rich deal flow Our deal flow is coming from various sources such as Universities, start-ups or spin-offs from private sector and from co-investors (Private Investment Consortium)

Hans Ivar Robinson has 25 years professional experience in the pharmaceutical and biotech industry including 7 years with capital investments in the life science sector He has held several leading international positions in AstraZeneca, Pfizer and Pronova Biopharma and several chairman and non-executive positions in smaller biotech companies His experience covers a broad specter in the pharmaceutical and biotech industry This includes top management, marketing, sales, business development, licensing, regulatory affairs and broad experience in start-up and development of biotech companies from early pre-clincal to clinical stages He has extensive experience working with investors and investment banks including capital raising, private placements, mergers and IPOs He founded Birk Venture in 2010 and holds a M Sc from Norwegian School of Economics (NHH)

Co-investor and external partner Per-Oluf has 27 years experience in the Pharmaceutical and Biotech industry He has Top management experience from both small and large organization within Pfizer e g Country Manager in Norway /Denmark and Italy, Regional Executive Director for Central and Eastern European Region Last year he has held the position as CEO of Pronova BioPharma AS

His experience covers all areas of the business from R&D to running a large organization in one of Europe’s biggest market

Take the long view – It takes hard work and patience to build great companies There are no short cuts to success It takes time for markets to emerge and organisations to develop and mature

Partnership is fundamental – Strong partnership and involvement with people, organisations and stakeholders is essential to succeed with a company

Enjoy the journey – The journey to success will not be smooth and easy To handle the ups and downs, it is important to work with people that share the same values, business ideas and trust each other It very often comes down to chemistry between people and having fun working together

PCI Biotech® (*exited) has developed a unique and patented photochemical drug delivery technology for use in cancer therapy and other diseases

PCI (PhotoChemical Internalisation) is a technology for light-directed drug delivery by triggered endosomal release and was developed to introduce therapeutic molecules in a biologically active form specifically into diseased cells The company’s lead candidate drug is the proprietary photosensitiser Amphinex®

PCI Biotech® has an ongoing clinical phase I/II study at University College Hospital in London In this study Amphinex® is combined with the cytotoxic agent bleomycin The study is primarily enrolling patients with Head & Neck cancer, a disease with local control issues that the PCI technology could potentially contribute to solve

The company has initiated pre-clinical trials for the use of PCI in the treatment of bladder cancer Bladder cancer has the highest average per-patient life-time cost of all cancers, mainly due to a high recurrence rate The currently used chemotherapeutic drugs have limited effect on recurrence and progression, and there is a large unmet therapeutic need Screening studies indicate that the effect of several of these chemotherapeutic drugs may be significantly enhanced by PCI The pre-clinical trials will be performed at Radboud University Nijmegen, The Netherlands and at The Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU) in Trondheim, Norway

PCI Biotech® collaborates closely with The Norwegian Radium Hospital in Oslo, Norway and receives substantial funding on several projects from both the Norwegian Research Council and the EU The company has an extensive international collaboration network with recognised drug delivery expert groups

APIM Therapeutics is a biotechnology company dedicated to the development of novel-cancer agents targeting DNA repair and cell cycle control The Company is developing a pipeline of peptide compounds that inhibit PCNA-dependent DNA repair in cancer cells The lead compound, ATX-101, has shown proof-of-concept in multiple preclinical in vitro and in vivo cancer models

Birk Venture made the first investment in 2011 and has one seat in the board of Directors of the company

Cortendo AB is a biopharmaceutical company headquartered in Göteborg, Sweden Its stock is publicly traded on the NOTC-A-list (OTC) in Norway Cortendo is a pioneer in the field of cortisol inhibition and has completed early clinical trials in patients with Type 2 diabetes The lead drug candidate NormoCort™, the 2S,4R-enantiomer of ketoconazole, is expected to enter into a Phase 3 study during Q4’2013 for Cushing’s Syndrome The company’s strategy is to focus its resources to opportunities where the path to commercialization or partnership is clear and relatively near-term Strategically, Cortendo’s business model is to commercialize relevant opportunities in the United States while partnering its assets ex-US Backed by a highly experienced leadership team Cortendo has plans to continue to implement its pipeline expansion efforts in osteoarthritis and diabetes, as well as other near term revenue opportunities

Birk Venture guest in “Podcast Radium”, discussing investments in the Norwegian biotech sector

Hans Ivar Robinson was together with Anders Tuv guests in “Podcast Radium”, discussing investments and company establishments in the Norwegian biotech sector https://soundcloud com/user-972208711/radium-episode-13