2015年2月10日讯 /生物谷BIOON/ --众筹概念的在国内国外都越来越热了，但我们听到的众筹成功案例大多是些互联网行业相关公司，关于生物医药这类高风险高投入行业的案例较少。而最近，一家由前诺贝尔奖得主马丁·约翰·埃文斯创办的生物科技公司获得了70万英镑的众筹资金，打破了英国在生物医药领域的众筹记录。
这笔资金将用于加快心脏病治疗项目，该项目是由马丁·约翰·埃文斯爵士创始的，他因干细胞研究成功而获得2007年诺贝尔生理学奖。
英国前财务部长同时也是Cardiff细胞疗法董事之一的琼斯勋爵称，70万英镑的融资也是世界最大众筹之一了。这是上周继法国医疗诊断公司EyeBrain融资130万欧元和苏格兰一家研究帕金斯疾病的初创公司Parkure集资6万英镑之后的第三笔融资。
执行董事和细胞疗法创始人之一Ajan Reginald解释之所以众筹说："公司拒绝了风险投资基金而选择公平众筹。大约有300人通过众筹网平台投资37英镑到10.8万英镑不等。再生医学将会改变所有人的医疗现状，我们想尝试这种不同形式，让每个人一个机会参与进来。"
Cardiff细胞疗法旨在修复心脏病发作造成的肌肉损伤，目前中期临床显示已经取得相应疗效。
公司在这次众筹中估值7500万英镑，因此这批参与众筹者总共将获得略低于1%股份。这意味着即使有风险投资参与，Martin与创立者也将拥有公司的控制权。
众筹网创始人Barry James说，受特定疾病影响的人们会更有可能参与投资，这能更好的规避市场失灵的情况。
但是这种让投资者面临高失败风险的生物科技类集资行为会引起人们对众筹和点对点集资这种新型筹资方式的担忧。金融市场监管局上周就批评众筹机构是误导盲目乐观的投资。
但Ajan Reginald解释说，大多数投资细胞疗法的人们都有一定的投资经验，并且他和这些投资者中三分之一的人在投资前有过会面。
原文阅读：
Biotech company hits crowdfunding record for life sciences
A Welsh biotech company founded by a Nobel laureate has claimed a UK record for crowdfunding in the life sciences sector after raising almost ？700，000 in a scheme that could provide a new model for financing medical research.
The money will be used to advance a heart disease treatment pioneered by Sir Martin Evans， who won the 2007 Nobel Prize for Medicine for a breakthrough in stem cell research.
Cardiff-based Cell Therapy， whose directors include Lord Digby Jones， former UK trade minister， said the ？691，000 raised was among the largest crowdfundings by a drug development company anywhere in the world.
It is the third crowdfunding in European healthcare in the past week after EyeBrain， a French medical diagnostics company， raised €1.3m and Parkure， a Scottish start-up researching Parkinson's disease， collected ？60，000.
Ajan Reginald， executive director and co-founder of Cell Therapy， said the company turned down offers from venture capital funds in favour of equity crowdfunding. Some 300 people made investments from ？37 to ？108，000 through the Crowdcube web platform in return for shares.
"We wanted to experiment with a different model，" said Mr Reginald， a former executive at Roche， the Swiss drugs group. "Regenerative medicine of the kind we are working on is going to change medicine for everyone and this provides a way for anyone to take a stake in it."
Cell Therapy， whose directors include Rhodri Morgan， former Welsh first minister， has completed successful mid-stage trials of its treatment， which aims to repair muscle damage caused by heart attacks.
The new investors will collectively own just under 1 per cent of Cell Therapy， implying a valuation of ？75m for the company. This leaves Sir Martin and other founding investors with more control than if they had received venture capital.
Barry James， founder of the Crowdfunding Centre， a research group， said there was potential to tap funding from people affected by a particular disease who wanted to help find a cure. "This could be a way to address market failures，" he added.
However， exposing small investors to the high failure rates associated with biotech could increase concern about the risks involved in alternative finance such as crowdfunding and peer-to-peer lending. The Financial Conduct Authority last week voiced alarm over crowdfunders giving a "misleading or unrealistically optimistic impression" of investments.
Mr Reginald said most of Cell Therapy's new investors were people with financial experience and he had met a third of them before they had committed money.