June 01, 2010 – Moscow, Russia – ChemRar Hi Tech Center announced partnership with RUSNANO that will help develop and commercialize Russian innovative pharmaceuticals. RUSNANO has approved investments of up to $40 million in equity of the project company. Project revenue in 2015 is forecasted at $36 million and during the period 2017–2019, $85 million to $150 million.

ChemRar will transfer to the project company five innovative drug candidates that are in clinical and preclinical trials. These promising pharmaceuticals are for treatment of AIDS, hepatitis C, diseases of the central nervous system, and pancreatic cancer. To lower investment risks, the project company will add to its portfolio ten other drug candidates developed in Russia and abroad.

“Development of Russia’s pharmaceuticals industry—or, more precisely, its revival—is a formidable challenge, and yet the country has no choice,” said RUSNANO CEO Anatoly Chubais. “It is a matter of public health and national prestige. We have an opportunity to draw smart money into the Russian economy. RUSNANO is one of only a few investors capable of carrying the risks associated with such projects.” Imported drugs currently make up 80 percent of the Russian pharma market while innovative pharmaceuticals of domestic origin constitute not more than one percent. Imported drugs are used to treat most cardiovascular, oncological, and infectious diseases as well as disorders of the central nervous system and other pathologies. These are the major causes of morbidity and mortality in Russia and worldwide. In global pharmaceutical sales, Russian drugs account for no more than 0.04 percent.

“The project is aimed not only at developing Russian innovative pharmaceuticals but also at forming the industry’s export potential. Drug candidates that prove to be efficient and safe through clinical trials will be licensed out to foreign partners for launching in global markets,” explained RUSNANO Director on Infrastructure Programs Tatiana Nikolenko.

About ChemRar Hi Tech Center:
ChemRar High-Tech Center is a unique pharma and biotechnology conglomerate built in Moscow, Russian Federation by highly innovative life science R&D organizations, discovering, developing and commercializing novel drugs for partners in Russia and worldwide. It sees its mission in bringing novel therapies for unmet needs in treating CNS, oncology, cardiovascular, metabolic and infection disease through using novel post genomic technology platforms.

About RUSNANO:
Russian Corporation of Nanotechnologies (RUSNANO) was established in 2007 to realize the objectives of the Russian government in nanotechnology. The corporation is charged with stimulating growth of the country’s nanoindustry so that by 2015 annual sales of nano-enabled products reach 900 billion rubles. Sales by companies in which RUSNANO has invested are to reach 300 billion rubles annually by that year. RUSNANO carries out its mission by coinvesting in nanotechnology projects with significant economic or social potential. To support the projects it finances, RUSNANO shares in creating nanotechnology infrastructure and educational programs. The corporation collaborates with the world’s leading nanotechnology centers, and it organizes the Nanotechnology International Forum, RUSNANOTECH, which is held annually in Moscow. The management bodies of RUSNANO are the Supervisory Council, the Executive Board, and the Chief Executive Officer. In September 2008 Anatoly Chubais was appointed CEO of the Russian Corporation of Nanotechnologies.