£22m funding round for PsiOxus Therapeutics

9 July 2012

Imperial Innovations Group plc

Innovations leads £22m funding round for PsiOxus Therapeutics

Imperial Innovations Group plc (AIM: IVO, 'Innovations'), a leading technology commercialisation and investment group, has led a £22m funding round for PsiOxus Therapeutics, alongside Invesco Perpetual, and together with new investors SR One and Lundbeckfond Ventures.

PsiOxus Therapeutics, based in Oxfordshire, is a development stage biotechnology company using non-traditional approaches to novel therapeutics for cancer, wasting diseases and other unmet clinical needs.

PsiOxus will use the funds to advance the clinical development of ColoAd1, a highly potent broad-spectrum anti-cancer therapeutic capable of destroying tumour cells at minute concentrations. A series of phase I and phase II clinical trials for the treatment of colorectal cancer and other forms of solid cancer will be initiated. ColoAd1 is a unique therapeutic candidate developed using the evolutionary principle of natural selection to generate an oncolytic vaccine with optimal anti-cancer properties. The first clinical trial of ColoAd1 will be initiated later this year in patients with metastatic solid tumours, to determine the safety and tolerability of the vaccine.

Innovations and Invesco Perpetual each invested £5.5 million in this round. The company was also supported by new investors SR One and Lundbeckfond Ventures who invested the remaining £11 million. Following the investment Innovations will hold a 26% stake in the Company.

Susan Searle, Chief Executive Officer, Imperial Innovations, said:

"PsiOxus continues to make great strides in translating its novel science into therapies that address major unmet medical needs for patients. We believe that ColoAd1 can represent a significant breakthrough in oncolytic vaccines and has the potential to open an entirely new approach to cancer therapy."

Dr John Beadle, Chief Executive Officer, PsiOxus, said:

"This financing comes at a pivotal time for our company as we move our cancer portfolio from early- to mid-stage clinical development. The new funding will enable key clinical trials to demonstrate the safety and proof of efficacy of these products in the clinic and to highlight the effectiveness of our research and development program. We are delighted to have the continued support of our existing investors and proud to add the support of SR ONE and the Lundbeck Fund giving us a truly exceptional group of investors."

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Imperial Innovations - www.imperialinnovations.co.uk 

Innovations creates, builds and invests in pioneering university technologies addressing global problems in healthcare, energy, engineering and the environment. It combines deep understanding of science and technology with commercial acumen and strong investment expertise.

Innovations supports scientist-entrepreneurs in the commercialisation of their ideas by:

·; leading the formation of new companies and providing facilities in the early stages

·; providing significant investment and encouraging co-investment to accelerate the transition from R&D to products

·; providing operational expertise

·; helping to recruit high-calibre industry figures and experienced entrepreneurs as executive management and Board members

Innovations invests in companies based on technologies from or associated with four universities: Imperial College London; Cambridge University, Oxford University, and UCL supported by its collaborations with Cambridge Enterprise, OSEM and UCL Business. These are the UK's leading research intensive universities, measured by research income.

By raising £140 million in January 2011, Innovations has been able to accelerate the making of, and increase the size of its investments. In the year to 31 July 2011, Innovations invested £35.1 million (2010: £14 million) in 23 ventures, and launched six new companies.

In its current portfolio of 78 companies, Innovations' most advanced assets include Circassia, which develops innovative vaccines for the treatment of a wide range of allergies; and Nexeon, a battery materials and licensing company which develops silicon anodes which extend the life and increase the capacity of lithium-ion batteries.

PsiOxus Therapeutics, Ltd. - www.psioxus.com 

PsiOxus Therapeutics is an Oxford, UK based development stage biotechnology company using non-traditional approaches to develop novel therapeutics that address cancer and other clinically unmet diseases. ColoAd1 is an oncolytic vaccine for the systemic treatment of metastatic cancer, which has demonstrated exceptional anti-cancer properties in late pre-clinical development and will begin clinical development later in 2012. MT-102 is a dual action Anabolic Catabolic Transforming Agent (ACTA) in phase II clinical development for the treatment of cachexia and sarcopenia. The Company is also developing treatments based upon the research phase vaccine platform PolySTAR, which combines recombinant viral vectors with polymers to shield them from the immune system, and the research phase adjuvant and immunotherapeutic platform PolyMAP, which combines polymers with synthetic adjuvants to significantly enhance the effectiveness of vaccines.

Dr John Beadle is CEO of PsiOxus. Dr Beadle was previously a co-founder of PowderMed, which was sold to Pfizer, Inc. for more than $300 million in 2006. Dr Michael Moore, the former CEO of Piramed, which was acquired by Roche in 2008, serves as Chairman of the Board of Directors.

PsiOxus is advised by a distinguished Scientific Advisory Board including the original Hybrid founders, Prof Len Seymour (Chair of Gene Medicine at Oxford University and Secretary General of the European Society for Gene and Stem Cell Therapy) and Dr Kerry Fisher (an internationally-recognized specialist in molecular medicine, also of Oxford University); and the original Myotec scientific founders, Prof Andrew Coats (Norwich Research Park Professor-at-Large, University of East Anglia) and Prof. Stefan Anker (Professor of Cardiology and Cachexia Research at Charité Medical School, Berlin and President of the Society on Sarcopenia, Cachexia and Wasting Diseases).