TIDMSYNC
RNS Number : 7758T
Syncona Limited
29 November 2021
Syncona Limited
Syncona co-leads Series B financing in Quell Therapeutics of up
to $156 million
29 November 2021
-- Syncona co-leads Quell's Series B financing of up to $156
million (GBP117 million [1] ), committing $25 million (GBP19
million), with the remainder raised from global specialist
investors
-- Syncona's holding in Quell written up by GBP19 million (3p
per share); 41 per cent uplift to the previous holding value of
GBP45 million [2]
-- Syncona holding value now of GBP74 million following first
tranche investment of $14 million (GBP10 million); on drawdown of
the full Series B financing, Syncona's ownership stake in the
business will be 37 per cent [3]
Syncona Ltd, a leading healthcare company focused on founding,
building and funding global leaders in life science, today
announces that it has committed $25 million (GBP19 million) to
Quell Therapeutics ("Quell"), a world leader in developing
engineered T-regulatory (Treg) cell therapies for serious medical
conditions driven by the immune system, in an up to $156 million
(GBP 117 million) Series B financing. Syncona co-led the financing
round alongside specialist global institutional investors Jeito
Capital, Ridgeback Capital Investments, SV Health Investors and
Fidelity Management & Research Company LLC, which also brought
in investment from Future Fund: Breakthrough managed by British
Patient Capital, amongst others. Following the Series B financing
Syncona has revalued its existing investment, which has resulted in
an GBP 19 million uplift (3p per Syncona share) to Syncona's
holding value of Quell.
Including the drawdown of the first tranche of Syncona's Series
B investment of $ 14 million (GBP10 million) , Syncona's holding
value of Quell is now GBP74 million. On drawdown of the full Series
B financing, Syncona's ownership stake in Quell will be 37 per
cent.
Quell is developing engineered Treg cell therapies, seeking to
harness the suppressive capacity of Tregs by leveraging their
potential to downregulate the immune system, to treat a range of
applications, the first of which will be in solid organ
transplantation. Quell is currently preparing for one of the first
ever clinical trials of an engineered Treg cell therapy with its
lead candidate QEL-001, designed to prevent organ rejection in
liver transplant patients. This Phase I/II clinical trial, known as
LIBERATE, is on track to initiate in Q1 CY2022.
The Series B financing brings Quell to up to $219 million
(GBP163 million) of total funding to date. Proceeds are expected to
continue to fund Quell's early clinical development of its QEL-001
programme in liver transplantation as well as advance its pipeline
elsewhere in its core therapeutic areas of transplantation,
neuroinflammatory diseases (including amyotrophic lateral
sclerosis) and autoimmune diseases (including Type 1 diabetes).
Additionally, the funding will enhance Quell's autologous
engineered Treg platform and enable it to develop an allogeneic
CAR-Treg platform, as well as allowing it to continue the
development of its manufacturing footprint.
Martin Murphy, Chief Executive Officer of Syncona Investment
Management Limited, said: "In 2019, Syncona co-founded Quell,
bringing together pioneering science from leading UK and European
universities, with the ambition to develop first-in-class therapies
in the ground-breaking Treg field offering the potential to make a
real difference to the lives of patients. Since then, the progress
made by the Quell team, led by Iain McGill, is remarkable. The
business has moved from concept-to-clinic in under three years.
"This financing underlines the progress the company has made to
date and the scale of its ambition. Supported by a strong syndicate
of global investors, the business will be able to progress its lead
program and pipeline, whilst building scalable manufacturing
capabilities, as it seeks to entrench its leadership position in an
emerging field of innovative medicine."
Ian McGill, Chief Executive Officer of Quell Therapeutics, said:
"Quell is at the forefront of a new wave of cell therapy. We are
leading the way with our highly differentiated, multi-modular
approach to Treg therapy engineering and production.
"We are proud to have the support of this premiere syndicate of
investors as we drive forward to our next stage of growth. With
this financing, we have the full suite of capabilities - capital,
cutting-edge science, and a world-class team - to advance our
pipeline and platform to key milestones on our path ultimately to
deliver potentially transformative therapies to patients suffering
from the disease of immune dysregulation."
[ENDS]
Copies of this press release and other corporate information can
be found on the company website at: www.synconaltd.com
Forward-looking statements - this announcement contains certain
forward-looking statements with respect to the portfolio of
investments of Syncona Limited. These statements and forecasts
involve risk and uncertainty because they relate to events and
depend upon circumstances that may or may not occur in the future.
There are a number of factors that could cause actual results or
developments to differ materially from those expressed or implied
by these forward-looking statements. In particular, many companies
in the Syncona Limited portfolio are conducting scientific research
and clinical trials where the outcome is inherently uncertain and
there is significant risk of negative results or adverse events
arising. In addition, many companies in the Syncona Limited
portfolio have yet to commercialise a product and their ability to
do so may be affected by operational, commercial and other
risks.
Enquiries
Syncona Ltd
Annabel Clay / Fergus Witt
Tel: +44 (0) 20 3981 7940
FTI Consulting
Ben Atwell / Natalie Garland-Collins / Tim Stamper
Tel: +44 (0) 20 3727 1000
About Syncona
Syncona's purpose is to invest to extend and enhance human life.
We do this by founding and building companies to deliver
transformational treatments to patients in areas of high unmet
need.
Our strategy is to found, build and fund companies around
exceptional science to create a diversified portfolio of 15-20
globally leading healthcare businesses for the benefit of all our
stakeholders. We focus on developing treatments for patients by
working in close partnership with world-class academic founders and
management teams. Our balance sheet underpins our strategy enabling
us to take a long-term view as we look to improve the lives of
patients with no or poor treatment options, build sustainable life
science companies and deliver strong risk-adjusted returns to
shareholders.
About Quell Therapeutics
Quell Therapeutics is the world leader in developing engineered
T-regulatory (Treg) cell therapies that aim to harness, direct and
optimize their immune suppressive properties to address serious
medical conditions driven by the immune system.
The Company is leveraging its pioneering phenotype lock
technology, unique multi-modular platform and integrated
manufacturing capabilities to design and develop a pipeline of
highly engineered Treg cell therapies with greater potential for
persistence, potency and stability than earlier generations of Treg
cell therapy approaches.
Quell's lead candidate QEL-001 is being developed to induce
operational tolerance following liver transplantation, with the
potential to protect the post-transplant liver without the need for
chronic immunosuppressive medications. Quell is also advancing
additional programs in neuroinflammatory and autoimmune diseases.
www.quell-tx.com.
[1] FX rates at 22 November 2021
[2] As of 30 September 2021
[3] Percentage holding reflects Syncona's ownership stake at the
point full current commitments are invested on a fully-diluted
basis
This information is provided by RNS, the news service of the
London Stock Exchange. RNS is approved by the Financial Conduct
Authority to act as a Primary Information Provider in the United
Kingdom. Terms and conditions relating to the use and distribution
of this information may apply. For further information, please
contact rns@lseg.com or visit www.rns.com.
RNS may use your IP address to confirm compliance with the terms
and conditions, to analyse how you engage with the information
contained in this communication, and to share such analysis on an
anonymised basis with others as part of our commercial services.
For further information about how RNS and the London Stock Exchange
use the personal data you provide us, please see our Privacy
Policy.
END
PFUBFBATMTMTBMB
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
November 29, 2021 02:00 ET (07:00 GMT)
Syncona (LSE:SYNC)
Gráfica de Acción Histórica
De Mar 2024 a Abr 2024
Syncona (LSE:SYNC)
Gráfica de Acción Histórica
De Abr 2023 a Abr 2024
