Quark Pharmaceuticals closes $10M private financing round

Quark Pharmaceuticals, Inc., a world leader in the discovery and development of RNAi-based therapeutics, today announced the closing of a private financing by the existing investors of Quark totaling an aggregate of $10 million. The investors are funds of the prestigious SBI Holdings Group in Japan.  In connection with the financing, Mr. Yoshitaka Kitao, CEO of SBI Holdings, Inc. and Mr. Robert Takeuchi, Director of SBI Investment Co., Ltd. will become members of the Quark board of directors.

Mr. Yoshitaka Kitao, CEO of SBI Holdings, Inc., commented, "We are impressed with Quark's significant progress since our initial investment, and we look forward to further supporting the Company and its rapidly growing clinical programs. Since our previous investment in 2008, when Quark had a promising preclinical-stage RNAi drug pipeline, the Company has brought five clinical programs into the clinic and has more siRNA drug candidates in the clinic than any other RNAi company."

Quark Pharmaceuticals will use the funds to advance its RNAi drug pipeline, which has the largest number of clinical-stage siRNA therapeutic programs in the industry. The Company's pipeline candidates are currently being evaluated in five different clinical trials.

Dr. Daniel Zurr, Quark's Chief Executive Officer, stated, "We are pleased to close our latest financing round and remain well-capitalized to advance our promising siRNA drug candidates through the clinic. On behalf of our board of directors, I would also like to welcome Mr. Kitao and Mr. Takeuchi as our newest members. ."