SAN DIEGO, April 19, 2011 /PRNewswire/ -- Sangart, Inc., today announced that it recently received more than $50 million in new equity funding from existing investors, led by Leucadia National Corporation. The most recent investment brings the total funding raised by the company since its inception in 1998 to more than $230 million. This financing round also included warrants which, if exercised, could provide up to an additional $50 million in future funding.

Funds raised in this Series G round will be used to advance the development of the MP4OX product in severe traumatic hemorrhage and the MP4CO product in sickle cell disease. MP4OX is an investigational biopharmaceutical designed to enhance the perfusion of oxygen-deprived (ischemic) tissues and provide targeted oxygen delivery in the capillaries. MP4CO is an investigational biopharmaceutical designed to deliver therapeutic levels of carbon monoxide (CO) to patients suffering from a sickle cell crisis.

"We are encouraged by this level of support from our existing investors, who recognize the clinical potential of our products," said Brian O'Callaghan, President and CEO of Sangart. "This funding will allow us to continue advancing the development of our medicines and get them as quickly as possible to patients in need. We continue to see promise in our MP4-based medicines in the treatment of patients who experience an acute traumatic injury and in patients with sickle cell disease suffering from a vaso-occlusive crisis."

About MP4

Sangart's product platform is based on the MP4 molecule, an investigational biopharmaceutical product designed to enhance the perfusion of oxygen-deprived (ischemic) tissues and provide targeted oxygen delivery in the capillaries. Using a novel pegylation approach, Sangart produces the MP4 molecule designed at the optimal oxygen affinity, diffusion potential and molecular size to perfuse capillaries and target oxygen delivery to tissues specifically at risk of ischemia. MP4 can also deliver precise amounts of carbon monoxide to the red blood cells of patients with sickle cell disease, stabilizing their hemoglobin. Carbon monoxide can also act as a gasotransmitter with anti-inflammatory properties. Once the carbon monoxide is delivered, the MP4 is oxygenated in the lungs and can then carry oxygen for targeted delivery to ischemic tissues.

About Sangart

Sangart is a global biopharmaceutical company dedicated to developing life-saving medicines specifically designed to enhance the perfusion and oxygenation of ischemic (oxygen deprived) tissues through targeted oxygen delivery. Based on more than a decade of research, Sangart has refined the pegylation of human hemoglobin to create a molecule, MP4, with the ability to carry oxygen or carbon monoxide through the circulatory system to prevent and treat ischemia and to stabilize the hemoglobin of sickle cell disease patients.

To learn more about Sangart, please visit the company's website at www.sangart.com.

SOURCE Sangart, Inc.