$13.8m in Series B Funding for NovaMed is Led by Fidelity Asia Ventures and Fidelity...

$13.8m in Series B Funding for NovaMed is Led by Fidelity Asia Ventures and
Fidelity Biosciences
Investment signals confidence in NovaMed's business model and investor
enthusiasm for China's growing pharmaceutical industry

SHANGHAI, China, Jan. 22 /PRNewswire/ -- $13.8 Million in a Series B round
of funding was awarded today to NovaMed Pharmaceuticals Inc., bringing the
total raised in one year to nearly $20 Million. The fund was led by the newly
involved investors, Fidelity Asia Ventures and its US affiliate, Fidelity
Biosciences, with participation from returning investor Atlas Venture.
"Series B funding marks a significant milestone in NovaMed's business
development in China," says Mark Lotter, CEO and Co-Founder of NovaMed. "It
allows us to continually expand and strengthen our portfolio in a number of
important therapeutic areas while playing an increasingly stronger role in
China's drug development landscape."
NovaMed is a China-based provider of outsourced development and
commercialization services for leading global and local pharmaceutical and
biotechnology companies. The company will use the proceeds from Series B
funding to finance the in-licensing of new molecules for China, expand sales
and distribution operations and strengthen medical research and development
capacity.
"NovaMed has continued to demonstrate effective execution capabilities
through in-licensing of further programs from multinationals," says Zina
Affas,
Principal at Atlas Venture, an investor in NovaMed. "The rapid raising of a
Series B investment following our Series A investment in May 2007 demonstrates
our strong belief in the capabilities of the team and the potential of the
company to develop and deliver products to the Chinese market."
China is today's foremost target for global drug development and
commercial growth, with a predicted 16.3% annual growth rate -- overtaking the
country's overall healthcare spending. NovaMed's unique business model allows
international drug brands to realize both significant cost advantages and the
full potential of China's pharmaceutical market. The Series B funding reflects
global investors' increased excitement and recognition over the growth
potential of the China market.
"Fidelity Asia Ventures and Fidelity Biosciences are delighted to have the
opportunity to invest in NovaMed, whom we see as the leader in the China
specialty pharmaceutical industry," says Norman Chen, Partner at Fidelity Asia
Ventures. "We look forward to utilizing our global life sciences expertise to
further refine and develop NovaMed's platform of high-quality, proprietary
drugs for China and in bringing this exciting business to its next stage of
development."
"We are very excited to move forward with this outstanding team," says Bo
Shao, Chairman and Co-Founder of NovaMed. "We are confident that with our
unique approach and the valuable guidance of our investment partners, NovaMed
will sustain its rapid growth in 2008 and continue to lead and drive
development of the specialty pharmaceutical industry in China."
NovaMed already offers a broad range of services to international
pharmaceutical and biotechnology firms in China, including facilitating the
outsourcing of clinical research to China, registering unique and new chemical
entities for the China market and commercializing and distributing products
for multinationals in China. Over just the past few months, the company has
entered into a number of strategic alliances with multinational pharmaceutical
companies in China including Sanofi-Aventis, Baxter and Meda. These
collaborations have expanded and strengthened the company's product lines in
oncology, diabetes, respiratory, urology and central nervous system diseases.
NovaMed's services for pharmaceutical multinationals, supported by a network
of best-in-class research, development, regulatory, and distribution partners
in China, work to accelerate the drug development and approval processes of
Western-based drugs to benefit China's patients and medical professionals.
"The enthusiasm and interest from our new and existing investors," says
Lotter, "represents a strong vote of confidence in our strategic and unique
approach to China's fast-growing pharmaceutical market."
ABOUT NOVAMED
NovaMed Pharmaceuticals was founded in August 2005 to provide one-stop-
shop service for global pharmaceutical companies and brand owners looking to
leverage cost advantage and achieve optimal market potential in China. Through
a directly managed sales organization of 300 people strong and growing and an
exclusive network of best-in-class research, development, regulatory and
distribution partners, NovaMed has built viable commercialization models for
products at different stages of their life cycle. These include products
already commercially available in China, internationally approved products not
yet registered in China, and in-license late stage development compounds. For
more information, visit www.novamed.com.cn.
ABOUT ATLAS VENTURE
Atlas Venture is a leading early-stage international venture capital firm
that invests in technology and life sciences businesses in the U.S., Europe
and Asia. Since inception in 1980, its partners have helped build over 300
companies in more than 15 different countries. Since 1990, 44 portfolio
companies have been acquired and 40 are now public companies with an aggregate
market capitalization of over $12 billion. Atlas Venture is currently
investing from its seventh fund and manages over $2.5 billion in capital
through offices in Boston, London, Munich, and Paris. Atlas Venture's life
sciences team has been an early investor in close to 100 biotechnology,
pharmaceutical and medical device companies. The active portfolio comprises
approximately thirty-five life sciences companies today and several new
investments are made each year, from seed stage to pre-IPO stage. Atlas
Venture's past life sciences investments include companies such as Actelion
Pharmaceuticals; Alnylam Pharmaceuticals; Crucell; deCODE genetics; Exelixis;
Momenta; MorphoSys; Newron and Renovo. For more information, visit
www.atlasventure.com.
ABOUT FIDELITY ASIA VENTURES
Fidelity Asia Ventures (FAV) is the Asian venture and growth capital arm
of Fidelity International Ltd. (FIL), a part of the global Fidelity investment
organization. FAV is among the earliest and most successful institutional
investors in private, growth companies in China and has actively invested
predominantly FIL proprietary capital in both the information technology and
healthcare sectors throughout Asia for nearly 14 years, with a longstanding
focus on China. More recently it has established a substantial capital pool
for investment in growing private companies in India. FAV's current mission is
to invest principally in high-quality, high-growth companies broadly in the
information technology, healthcare and consumer sectors in China and India.
FAV's investment teams in Hong Kong, Beijing, Shanghai and Mumbai are among
the most experienced in the Asia-Pacific region. Current investments and
recent exits include: Alibaba Holdings, Pharmanex (Acquired by Nu Skin), Wuxi
PharmaTech, Hurray!, Linktone, AsiaInfo, Dianji Technology, CDP, Datuu,
Xunlei,
Isoftstone and Asia Renal Care (acquired by Bumrungrad International). For
more information, please visit: http://www.fidelityasiaventures.com.
ABOUT FIDELITY BIOSCIENCES
Fidelity Biosciences invests venture capital in private biopharmaceutical
and medical technology companies. We are a division of Fidelity Investments,
one of the world's leading providers of financial services. For more than 30
years, Fidelity Investments has been a significant presence in the venture
capital and private equity industry, investing the firm's own capital since
1969. This provides us with the flexibility and capabilities of traditional
venture capital firms while eliminating the additional pressures of
fundraising. The result is a clear focus on building long-term value for
Fidelity, our management partners, and co-investors. We are engaged investors
and board members, seeking to add value by providing strategic guidance and
assistance to management throughout the process of building successful
businesses. We possess the energy and entrepreneurial spirit of a start-up
enterprise, while bringing to bear the considerable strengths and resources of
Fidelity Investments. For more information, please visit:
http://www.fidelitybiosciences.com.
For more information and enquiries, please contact:
Kristine Kelly
+1 212 704 8276
kristine.kelly@edelman.com

SOURCE NovaMed Pharmaceuticals Inc.

Kristine Kelly, +1-212-704-8276, kristine.kelly@edelman.com, for NovaMed
Pharmaceuticals Inc.