Domain Associates and Rusnano Create a Partnership

July 27, 2012

Domain Associates, a U.S. venture capital firm that focuses on life sciences has formed a partnership with Rusnano, Russia’s state nanotechnology company. The $760m joint venture will initially invest $40m in CoDa Therapeutics, a San Diego-based company which has developed a new drug to treat chronic ulcers, an affliction common among diabetics.

Rusnano will become a share holder in CoDa Therapeutics. CoDa benefits from having a strong Russian partner who can assist the company’s new subsidiary, NovaMedica, with the complicated drug registration process and some of the other challenges of doing business in Russia.

The partnership also addresses Russian Government directives for local production and modernization of the economy. Clinical trials will be conducted locally and the drug will eventually be produced in Russia. The partners are seeking to identify a production site and have construction completed by 2015.

Domain, with offices on both the U.S. east and west coasts, and Rusnano plan to collaborate on 20 more projects and move into other areas of life sciences such as heart disease, viral infection treatment, and cancer.