Circassia Phase II Clinical Trial Success

8 March 2012

Imperial Innovations Group plc

Circassia ragweed vaccine achieves phase II clinical development milestone

Imperial Innovations Group plc (AIM: IVO, 'Innovations', or 'the Group'), a leading technology commercialisation and investment company, announces that portfolio company Circassia has successfully completed a large-scale phase II clinical study of its ToleroMune® ragweed allergy treatment.

Ragweed pollen is one of the main allergens responsible for hayfever in the US and its prevalence is increasing across Europe. The study shows the vaccine achieved a significant reduction in allergy symptoms in those patients whose ragweed allergy was most severe after just a short course of treatment.

Circassia is a specialty biopharmaceutical company focused on the development of anti-allergy products.

Circassia has now completed phase II studies with its four leading allergy T-cell vaccines for cat, grass, house dustmite and ragweed validating the Company's scientific approach. These results also come after the successful one year follow-up phase II study on Circassia's cat allergy treatment, which demonstrated that patients maintained a significant reduction in allergy symptoms during a 12 month period after initial treatment.

Circassia has successfully completed four investment rounds to date, raising a total of £93.1m for the development of a range of allergy T-cell vaccines based on an approach of tolerisation of the immune system whereby regulatory T cells suppress allergic immune responses, and desensitise patients to allergens.

These treatments offer significant market opportunities - more than 150 million people suffer from allergic rhinitis in the US and Europe, and more than 25% of the US population, plus a growing number of Europeans, are sensitive to ragweed pollen. The current allergy treatment market is valued at approximately $12 billion per year.

The placebo-controlled double-blind phase II study was conducted in Toronto, Canada. The trial included 275 patients with confirmed ragweed allergies, and compared four short regimes of ToleroMune treatment with placebo.

The results of this phase II trial were presented on 6 March at the 2012 Annual Meeting of the American Academy of Allergy, Asthma and Immunology.

Susan Searle, CEO of Imperial Innovations said:

"Circassia is one of our most advanced investments and following the £60m fundraising we led last year, we are pleased to see its success in another key clinical trial. It is a great demonstration of the value being created within our portfolio and the quality businesses which we are backing.

"The allergy market opportunity is very substantial. Ragweed is one of the most common causes of hayfever in North America and is growing in prevalence in Europe. To be able to offer such an effective potential treatment is a huge breakthrough in the allergy market and a real validation of Circassia's IP."

Steve Harris, Circassia's CEO said:

"The results of this trial are extremely encouraging, because they show our ToleroMune ragweed allergy vaccine has the potential to reduce patients' symptoms after just a short course of treatment and, more importantly, offer the greatest improvement to those who are suffering the most.

"We have now achieved successful Phase II results with four of our allergy vaccines, which confirms our approach and helps us to progress our programmes into the final phase of clinical development, so we can bring our products to patients as quickly as possible."

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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; and 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.

Circassia

Circassia was founded in 2006 by a team of highly experienced biotechnology scientists and entrepreneurs, and is chaired by the former Chairman of GlaxoSmithKline, Sir Richard Sykes. The company is based in the UK on the Oxford Science Park, and in Hamilton, Canada, where its joint venture Adiga Life Sciences is located. Its ToleroMune technology was developed originally by scientists at Imperial College, London. Having successfully completed four fundraising rounds, Circassia has raised approximately £93 million ($159 million) and is backed by a syndicate of world-class institutional investors, including Invesco Perpetual and Imperial Innovations, which holds 18.4% of the equity and has invested £13.8m in total to date.