Targacept Inc, a privately held R&D pharmaceutical company dedicated to the discovery and development of new drugs to treat a variety of human diseases and conditions such as Alzheimer's, Parkinson's, pain and depression, today completed a $30.4 million private placement.

The financing came from investor groups in the United States, United Kingdom and France. This represents the single largest first- round private financing among North Carolina biotechnology companies, and one of the largest among U.S. biotechnology companies.

The company was formed in 1997, based on a strong portfolio of patents and intellectual property from R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Company. Targacept's technology involves novel compounds that can treat a variety of diseases by activating specific cholinergic receptor targets in the human nervous system.

``The infusion of capital into the company positions us to expand our operations and accelerate our growth. We plan to seek additional strategic alliances with major pharmaceutical partners to develop and commercialize our R&D pipeline,'' said J. Donald deBethizy, president and CEO of Targacept.

The lead investor is EuclidSR Partners, a $200 million venture fund established to invest in early stage and high-growth companies in healthcare, information technology and the convergence of these two sectors. EuclidSR has more than 15 years of experience funding successful companies in the life sciences and biotechnology. ``Our investment in Targacept is exciting because the company's platform technology in generating neural receptor-selective compounds is very powerful and the resulting therapeutics have applications in a number of devastating human neurological diseases,'' said EuclidSR partner, Elaine Jones.

Other investors participating in this financing include Burrill & Company, Advent Venture Partners, Auriga Ventures, CDCInnovation, Genavent and Societe Generale Asset Management Finance.