Innovations joins Apollo consortium

25 January 2016

Imperial Innovations Group plc

Innovations joins consortium of three world-leading UK universities and three global pharmaceutical companies to launch £40m therapeutics fund

Imperial Innovations Group plc (AIM: IVO, 'the Group', 'Innovations') has committed £3.3m to the new£40 million Apollo Therapeutics Fund ('Apollo' or the 'Fund') launched today.

Apollo is a pioneering collaboration between AstraZeneca, GlaxoSmithKline, Johnson & Johnson and the technology transfer offices (TTOs) of three of the world's top universities (Imperial College London, University College London and University of Cambridge) (source: QS World University Rankings 2015/16), namely Innovations, UCL Business (UCLB) and Cambridge Enterprise respectively.

Apollo will support the translation of outstanding academic therapeutic science into innovative new medicines by combining the skills of the university academics with industry expertise at an early stage. This aims to speed up the development of new medicines, as well as reducing the cost and improving the attrition rate of potential opportunities, whilst sharing the risk of early development.

Apollo will bring academic preclinical research to the stage of development at which it can either be taken forward by one of the pharma partners or out-licensed, with the pharma partners having rights of first negotiation.

Over the six year life of the Fund, the three TTOs are each contributing £3.3 million, with the three pharmaceutical companies each contributing £10.0 million, as well as providing R&D expertise and resources to assist with the development of projects.

Dr Ian Tomlinson, former Senior Vice President, Worldwide Business Development and Biopharmaceuticals R&D, for GSK and founder & Chief Scientific Officer of Domantis Ltd has been appointed Chairman of the Apollo Investment Committee (AIC). Comprising representatives from the six partners, the AIC will make all investment decisions. Tony Hickson, Managing Director, Technology Transfer is Innovations representative on the AIC.

Russ Cummings, Chief Executive Officer at Imperial Innovations, said:

"This is another important component of our broader strategic relationships in Cambridge and London.

"We are delighted to be at the heart of this consortium, which aims to significantly increase the pace at which novel academic research is translated from laboratories to patients.

"Alongside our investment in the recently launched UCL Technology Fund, our active participation in Apollo will increase the funds that can be deployed to support the outstanding research emanating from these three world-class universities, as well as strengthening our existing relationships with the three world-leading global pharma companies.

"Crucially, having the pharma partners in Apollo involved right from the start ensures that projects will be selected and shaped at a very early stage to maximise the chances of commercial success.

"We believe that Apollo will ultimately lead to the delivery of new medicines faster and more cheaply, as well as generating new deal flow and licensing opportunities for consortium members."

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Notes to editors

About Imperial Innovations - www.imperialinnovations.co.uk 

Imperial Innovations Group plc ("Innovations") creates, builds and invests in pioneering technology companies and licensing opportunities developed from outstanding scientific research from the 'Golden Triangle', the geographical region broadly bounded by London, Cambridge and Oxford. This area has an unrivalled cluster of outstanding academic research and technology businesses, and is home to four of the world's top 10 universities, as well as leading research institutions, the cream of the UK's science and technology businesses and many of its leading investors.

Innovations supports scientists and entrepreneurs in the commercialisation of their ideas, through the licensing of intellectual property, by leading the formation of new companies, by recruiting high-calibre management teams and by providing investment and encouraging co-investment. Innovations remains an active investor over the life of its portfolio companies, with the majority of Innovations' investment going into businesses in which it is already a shareholder.

Since becoming a public company in 2006, Innovations has raised more than £346.0 million of equity from investors, which has enabled it to invest in some of the most exciting spin-outs to come out of UK academic research. In addition, the Group has agreed £80.0 million in loan facilities from the European Investment Bank (EIB).

Between Innovations' admission to AIM (August 2006) and 31 July 2015, Innovations has invested a total of £236.8 million across its portfolio companies, which have raised collectively investment of £1.3 billion.