Investment in new start-up

6 December 2011

Imperial Innovations Group plc

£8 million funding for new start-up TopiVert

Imperial Innovations Group plc (AIM: IVO, 'Innovations'), a leading technology commercialisation and investment group, and SV Life Sciences have committed to invest £8 million in a new start-up company TopiVert, which will focus on developing topical medicines for inflammatory diseases of the eye and gut.

TopiVert has licensed NSKI (narrow spectrum kinase inhibitor) related intellectual property from RespiVert Ltd., a former Imperial Innovations portfolio company acquired by Janssen Biotech, Inc. (formerly known as Centocor Ortho Biotech Inc.) in 2010, for TopiVert's exclusive use in discovering and developing NSKIs for inflammatory diseases of the eye and gut. Both participants in this funding round were also investors in RespiVert.

TopiVert will enter into an exclusive drug discovery collaboration with RespiVert aimed at identifying new NSKIs. TopiVert will receive exclusive rights to select and develop resulting NSKIs for the treatment of inflammatory diseases of the eye and gut, such as uveitis and inflammatory bowel disease, while RespiVert will receive exclusive rights to select and develop resulting NSKIs for the treatment of other indications, such as inflammatory diseases of the lungs.

The market size for inflammatory bowel disease in its major markets (US, Japan, and the EU) is predicted to rise from $3.5bn in 2009 to $5.6 billion by 2019 according to a recent Datamonitor report. The global uveitis market is also predicted to grow from $300m in 2010 to $1.6bn by 2017, according to Global data.

TopiVert will operate from the Imperial College Incubator, where RespiVert remains a tenant. Maina Bhaman, Director of Healthcare Investments at Innovations joins the board of TopiVert as Non-Executive Director.

TopiVert has a strong and experienced team including Chairman Allan Baxter, formerly Head of Medicines Development at GSK, and Chief Scientific Officer Steve Webber, who was Senior Director of Drug Discovery and Pre-Clinical Development at Almirall. Steve previously worked alongside Garth Rapeport, Managing Director and Chief Medical Officer of RespiVert, while both were at GSK, and was also a consultant to RespiVert. Matthew Fyfe joins the company as Head of Chemistry following roles as Director of Drug Discovery at Barcelona-based biotech Oryzon and Director of Medicinal Chemistry at Oxford-based OSI Pharmaceuticals subsidiary Prosidion.

Susan Searle, Imperial Innovations Chief Executive, commented:

"TopiVert is an exciting new venture backed by a great team with a strong track record in drug discovery. RespiVert was a very successful exit, and we are pleased to have the opportunity to utilise its NSKI platform technology along with the support of SV life Sciences."

Allan Baxter, TopiVert's Chairman, commented:

"RespiVert has developed a novel platform technology for use in inflammatory conditions where current treatments are inadequate or poorly tolerated. The exciting prospect for TopiVert is the opportunity to build from this platform to develop topical therapies for inflammatory indications in the gastrointestinal tract and the eye."

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Notes to editors

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.

What are NSKIs?

Narrow spectrum kinase inhibitors (NSKIs) are small molecule compounds that block certain steroid sensitive (for example, allergen - induced inflammation) and steroid insensitive (for example, virus - induced inflammation) inflammatory pathways through inhibition of a narrow spectrum of kinase targets. Certain NSKI agents discovered by RespiVert exhibit potent anti-inflammatory activity in primary disease cells and tissues from patients with COPD and severe asthma.

NSKIs are designed to exhibit tissue retention characteristics, which make them suitable for use as topical agents in different diseases characterised by severe corticosteroid-insensitive inflammation such as GI and ophthalmic inflammation.