The investment was led by Pharmstandard International, S.A. and includes new investors Ervington Investments Limited and Alexandria Venture Investments. Existing investors Avalon Ventures, Bregua Corporation, and WuXi Healthcare Ventures participated in the financing as well. Avelas Biosciences plans to use the proceeds to advance AVB-620, a 'cancer illuminator,' into late-stage clinical trials, to develop new targeted therapeutics for cancer and for general corporate purposes.

The company also announced today that, in conjunction with the financing, Andrei Petrov, Ph.D. has joined Avelas Biosciences' board of directors. Dr. Petrov is the chief executive officer and managing partner at Inbio Ventures, a venture capital management company representing Pharmstandard International, S.A. At the same time, Kevin Kinsella and Nikolay Savchuk will be stepping down as directors of the company.

'I am delighted to have some of the world's most prominent healthcare investors participate in our Series C financing, led by Pharmstandard,' said Carmine N. Stengone, president and chief executive officer of Avelas Biosciences. 'Strengthened by this fundraising, I believe Avelas is well-positioned to further the development of AVB-620 and advance new therapeutic candidates - two exciting product opportunities that could make meaningful contributions to cancer diagnosis and treatment.'

Avelas' core technology takes advantage of cancer's inherent pathological biochemistry to deliver either therapeutic or imaging cargo to the cancer site. The first product candidate, AVB-620, is a fluorescent, cancer-illuminating probe that 'lights up' when it interacts with cancer tissue. The purpose of AVB-620 is to enable cancer surgeons to distinguish between tumor and healthy tissue during surgery. AVB-620 could offer the necessary real-time information needed by surgeons to visualize and excise cancerous tissue while they operate and avoid the need for additional surgeries.

About Avelas Biosciences

Avelas Biosciences is a San Diego-based biotechnology company focused on developing technologies that advance a new standard-of-care for cancer surgery and therapeutic intervention. The company's lead product candidate, AVB-620, is in a Phase 1b trial in breast cancer to assess safety, pharmacokinetics and fluorescence properties using tissue image analysis. Avelas was founded by Avalon Ventures on technology from Nobel laureate Roger Y. Tsien, Ph.D. For additional information, please visit www.avelasbio.com.