22nd Jul 2005 07:00
IP2IPO Group PLC22 July 2005 For immediate release 22nd July 2005 IP2IPO Group plc INVESTMENT IN KARUS THERAPEUTICS LIMITED New drug discovery spin-out company from University of Southampton IP2IPO Group plc (AIM: IPO) ("IP2IPO") is pleased to announce that it hasacquired a 38.2% stake in Karus Therapeutics Limited ("Karus"), a drug discoveryspin-out company from the University of Southampton. Karus has secured £750,000in seed capital funding, £475,000 of which has been committed by IP2IPO. Chemist Dr A. Ganesan from the University of Southampton School of Chemistry,cancer scientist Dr Graham Packham and heart biologist Dr Paul Townsend, bothfrom the University of Southampton's School of Medicine, have come together tocreate Karus, a company that will develop novel drugs to treat cancer and heartdisease, based on histone deacetylase (HDACs) inhibitors. There has been intense interest in industry in HDAC inhibitors as drugs becausethey have shown great potential in slowing down the growth of abnormal cells intumours. These next generation products to be developed by Karus are expected tooffer patients a potent and less toxic treatment than their predecessors notonly in cancer but also in heart disease. Commenting on the launch of Karus, Dr Packham, co-founder, said: "Karus buildson highly successful academic collaborations between different disciplines atthe University. The strong links between chemistry and medicine have contributedsignificantly to Karus's platform and we are extremely excited to be taking thetechnology we have developed to the next stage." For more information contact: Dave Norwood, Chief Executive Officer, IP2IPO Tel. 020 7489 5200 Dr A. Ganesan, Karus, University of Southampton Tel. 023 8059 3897 Dr Paul Townsend, Karus, University of Southampton Tel. 023 8079 8692 Dr Graham Packham, Karus, University of SouthamptonTel. 023 8079 6184 Mark Court and Mary-Jane Johnson, Buchanan Communications Tel. 0207 466 5000 Notes for editors IP2IPO is an intellectual property (IP) company that specialises incommercialising university technology. The Company was founded in 2001 andlisted on the AIM Market of the London Stock Exchange plc in October 2003.IP2IPO's first partnership was with the University of Oxford. In return for aninvestment of £20 million, IP2IPO has acquired 50 per cent of the University ofOxford's equity in spin-out companies and technology licenses based onintellectual property created at the Chemistry Department until 2015. InNovember 2003, IP2IPO created a £5 million seed capital fund for investing inspin-out companies across the University of Oxford, not just those originatingwithin the Chemistry Department. In March 2002, IP2IPO entered into a second long-term partnership with theUniversity of Southampton. Under the terms of this partnership, IP2IPO iscommitted to working with the University of Southampton in the identificationand facilitation of spin-out companies from across the University of Southamptonand to investing £5 million in early-stage University of Southampton spin-outcompanies over a four year period in return for equity stakes in thosecompanies. In addition, IP2IPO also received a 20 per cent stake in SouthamptonAsset Management Limited, a company that has been formed to hold theUniversity's equity stakes in its spin-out companies. The partnership has a termof at least 25 years. IP2IPO entered into its third long-term partnership in May 2003 with King'sCollege London. IP2IPO will work with King's College London to help identify andprogress commercialisation opportunities as well as invest £5 million in seedcapital in spin-out companies from King's College London over a five year periodin return for equity stakes in those companies. In addition, IP2IPO will receive20 per cent of King's College London's equity in spin-out companies andtechnology licenses. The partnership has a term of 25 years. In October 2003, IP2IPO announced a fourth partnership with the Centre for NovelAgricultural Products ("CNAP"), based at the University of York. CNAP is aflagship research centre that specialises in plant and microbial gene discovery.Under the terms of the partnership a new company, Amaethon Limited, has beencreated which has the right to commercialise CNAP's IP for 25 years. IP2IPO hasinvested £1.15m in Amaethon Limited in return for a 40% equity stake in AmaethonLimited (the remaining equity being owned by the University of York) and willalso invest in the spin-out companies based on CNAP's IP which Amaethon Limitedcreates. In June 2004, IP2IPO acquired Top Technology Ventures Limited, an investmentadviser to early stage technology funds. This combines IP2IPO's expertise in thecreation of new ventures based on world leading university IP with TopTechnology's focus on making early stage venture capital investments. In January 2005, IP2IPO acquired Techtran, a company set up in 2002 tocommercialise university intellectual property under a long-term technologycommercialisation contract with the University of Leeds. Under the terms of thecontract Techtran receives a significant (30%) interest in spin-out companiescreated and technology licences negotiated, in return for the provision oftechnology transfer services to the University. In May 2005, IP2IPO announced the launch of LifeUK, a new subsidiary company.LifeUK will in-license life science intellectual property created by medicalresearchers at universities with which IP2IPO already has partnerships, otheruniversities in the UK and similar academic and charitable researchinstitutions. LifeUK's objective is to further develop the intellectual propertywhich it in-licenses with a view to creating substantial value either bysubsequently licensing these development programmes to the pharmaceuticalindustry or via the creation of new ventures. To date, 4 spin-out companies from the IP2IPO portfolio have listed on the AIMMarket of the London Stock Exchange plc: Offshore Hydrocarbon Mapping plc,Synairgen plc, VASTox plc and Proximagen Neuroscience plc. For more information please visit www.ip2ipo.com The University of Southampton is a leading UK teaching and research institutionwith a global reputation for leading-edge research and scholarship. TheUniversity has around 20,000 students and nearly 5,000 staff. Its annualturnover is in the region of £270 million. The Centre for Enterprise andInnovation (CEI) is the focus of entrepreneurial activity within the Universityof Southampton. Formed in September 2000, the office encourages and supportsenterprise activity across the whole university including enterprise educationfor students and businesses, consultancy for industry and the commercialisationof university intellectual property through the creation of start-up companiesand licensing. Since 2000, the CEI has encouraged the start-up of over 25student and arts-based businesses, supported consultancy transactions across theuniversity and helped spin out 14 companies, two of which floated on theAlternative Investment Market of the London Stock Exchange in 2004. This information is provided by RNS The company news service from the London Stock ExchangeRelated Shares:
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