Portfolio company PolyTherics merges with Antitope

26 July 2013

Imperial Innovations Group plc

Portfolio company PolyTherics merges with Antitope

Innovations leads investment in enlarged group

Imperial Innovations Group plc (AIM: IVO, "Innovations" or "the Group") has led investment into an enlarged biopharmaceuticals group comprising PolyTherics Limited and Antitope Limited.

PolyTherics is issuing new shares up to an aggregate value of £13.5 million to fund the merger with Antitope and to provide working capital for the enlarged group. Innovations led the investment and brought in new investor Invesco Perpetual alongside existing investors. Innovations will invest up to £3 million and Invesco Perpetual has committed up to £7 million.

The new PolyTherics group will be a leading provider of technologies and services addressing key needs in biopharmaceutical development. There are strong synergies between the two companies' technologies and the enlarged group will have a strong client base in the biotechnology and pharmaceutical industry, including many of the world's top companies.

The enlarged PolyTherics group will benefit from a broadened technology platform for growth and a solid financial base with sustainable revenue streams over the short-, medium- and longer-term.

PolyTherics is an existing Innovations investee company. Its technology portfolio includes proprietary site-specific conjugation technologies and novel polymers for optimising the therapeutic properties of biopharmaceuticals, including technologies to produce more stable antibody-drug conjugates and to extend the duration of activity of therapeutic proteins.

Antitope is a Cambridge based leading provider of antibody engineering and immunogenicity screening services. Its business offering includes technologies used to develop several therapeutic antibody candidates that are advancing through clinical trials.

Following the investment round, Innovations will hold approximately 25% of the business. The investment is in addition to the £3.98 million that Innovations has invested in PolyTherics in prior years. Nigel Pitchford, Managing Director, Healthcare Ventures at Innovations, is on the PolyTherics board.

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

"This merger creates an enlarged business with significant growth potential and a more comprehensive approach to next-generation biopharmaceuticals. The investment also signals our confidence in the teams and demonstrates our ability to build strong investor syndicates to support the ambitions of our leading portfolio companies."

Nigel Pitchford added:

"Both PolyTherics and Antitope have multiple revenue streams and very exciting technologies with application to the global biopharmaceutical industry. The value drivers within the combined business make this investment a compelling proposition for Innovations, as a healthcare investor, to participate in therapeutic development."

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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 acts as the Technology Transfer office for Imperial College, providing IP protection, licensing and business-building services, gining it very early access to research outputs from this leading research university. 

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

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 raised £140 million in January 2011. In the year to 31 July 2012, it invested £37.9 million (2011: £35.1 million) in 29 ventures, and made 11 investments in new companies. In July 2013, Innovations obtained a £30m, 12-year loan from the European Investment Bank (EIB) to invest in the biotech and therapeutics sectors.

In its current portfolio of around 80 companies, Innovations' most advanced assets include Circassia, which develops innovative treatments for a wide range of allergies, and Veryan, a medical devices business developing improved stent technologies.