REG - Syncona Limited - Syncona adds two oncology companies to portfolio

SynconaAnnouncement

20/06/2024 07:00

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RNS Number : 1278T  Syncona Limited  20 June 2024

 

Syncona Limited

 

Syncona adds two new oncology companies to its portfolio

 

20 June 2024

 

·     Syncona leads a €80 million (£68.4 million) Series B financing in
iOnctura, a clinical-stage oncology company developing innovative therapies
for neglected and hard-to-treat cancers. Syncona has invested €30 million
(£25.7 million) and will have a 23.0 1  per cent stake in the business

·     Syncona launches Yellowstone, an oncology company pioneering soluble
bispecific TCR-based therapies, with a £16.5 million Series A financing
commitment, and will have a 60.9 2   per cent stake in the business

·     Showcases the breadth of Syncona's investment pipeline, from
creation to clinical stage

Syncona Ltd, a leading life science investor focused on creating, building and
scaling global leaders in life science, announces that it has added two new
companies to its portfolio, iOnctura and Yellowstone Biosciences
("Yellowstone"). Syncona has invested €30 million (£25.7 million) in
iOnctura, an innovative, clinical-stage, small molecule company combating
neglected and hard-to-treat cancers, and launched Yellowstone, a new oncology
company pioneering soluble bispecific T-cell receptor (TCR)-based therapies,
with a £16.5 million commitment.

 

iOnctura

iOnctura is a European, clinical-stage, biopharmaceutical company developing
selective cancer therapeutics against targets that play critical roles in
multiple tumour survival pathways. Syncona invested €30 million (£25.7
million) as part of a €80 million (£68.4 million) Series B financing, which
was led by Syncona and included existing investors Merck Ventures, Inkef
Capital, Schroders Capital, VI Partners and the 3B Future Health Fund, as well
as new investor the European Innovation Council. Syncona will have a 23.0 per
cent stake in the business.

 

iOnctura's lead candidate, roginolisib, is a first-in-class allosteric
(indirect) modulator of PI3K delta (PI3Kδ), which has potential application
across a variety of solid tumour and haematological cancers. PI3Ks are enzymes
that help to control growth in cells and are commonly involved in cancer. The
biopharma industry has long tried to harness this mechanism for the treatment
of cancer but previous generations of PI3K inhibitors have often targeted many
PI3K sub-types and, as a result, have high toxicity. Roginolisib is highly
differentiated as the first allosteric modulator of PI3Kδ, affording high
selectivity and specific targeting of only the delta isoform. Roginolisib has
the potential to become the first successful, clinically meaningful therapy to
target this critical cancer mechanism.

 

Roginolisib demonstrated long-term safety and emerging efficacy in a Phase Ib
clinical trial for metastatic uveal melanoma (UM), a rare cancer of the eye
where patients have very limited treatment options. In CY2024 iOnctura expects
to initiate randomised Phase II trials in UM, and other cancer indications
including non-small cell lung cancer and primary myelofibrosis. Syncona is
working with the company to explore the breadth of roginolisib's potential
utility. iOnctura is led by a highly accomplished management team including
founder and Chief Executive Officer Catherine Pickering, with Syncona
Investment Management Limited (SIML) Managing Partner and Head of Investments,
Roel Bulthuis, plus Investment Partner Alice Renard joining the Board as
Directors.

Yellowstone

Yellowstone is a new biologics company pioneering soluble bispecific TCR-based
therapies to unlock a new class of cancer therapeutics. Syncona has launched
the company with a £16.5 million Series A commitment and will hold a 60.9 per
cent stake in the business. Through privileged access to a biobank of adult
acute myeloid leukaemia (AML) patients that underwent allogeneic blood cell
transplantation, Yellowstone has been able to identify a proprietary set of
frequently expressed peptide antigens that represent novel biological targets
to treat cancer. By targeting these specific, frequently expressed antigens,
the TCR-based therapies Yellowstone will now develop have the potential to
selectively kill cancer cells and, in doing so, change the treatment landscape
for patients with AML and beyond, across a range of cancers.

Yellowstone has been spun out from the University of Oxford with the support
of Oxford University Innovation (OUI) and is built around the pioneering work
of renowned academic clinician, Prof. Paresh Vyas, who joins the company as
Chief Scientific Officer alongside an industry-leading team. Neil Johnston
also joins as Executive Chair, having spent 17 years at Novartis, most
recently as Global Head of Business Development and Licensing. Syncona will be
represented on the Board of Yellowstone by SIML Chief Executive Officer Chris
Hollowood and Investment Partner Gonzalo Garcia.

Chris Hollowood, CEO of Syncona Investment Management Limited, said: "These
new portfolio additions showcase the breadth of Syncona's investment pipeline,
which focuses on company creation around highly innovative early-stage
scientific research, and investment in companies with emerging clinical data
developing transformational medicines. Yellowstone represents an opportunity
to create and build a company from nascent but exciting science, whilst
iOnctura is a significant opportunity to invest in a company which is already
delivering differentiated clinical data. Our focus is on differentiated assets
that have significant potential to deliver transformational treatments to
patients and in settings where an autonomous biotech company can be scaled to
deliver products to approval. These investments underline the continued
strength of Syncona's network and model, as we look to deliver against our
strategy and growth targets."

Roel Bulthuis, Managing Partner and Head of Investments at Syncona Investment
Management Limited and Board member of iOnctura, added: "iOnctura represents a
compelling opportunity to invest in line with our strategy and capital
allocation focus in a clinical-stage company, and take a promising lead
programme through to late-stage development. To date, no company has been able
to successfully target this well-known cancer pathway with sufficient
precision. By allosterically modulating PI3Kδ, iOnctura has achieved a new
level of precision and could be the first company to develop a clinically
meaningful medicine targeting this pathway. Its programmes have potential
utility across a range of cancers, which we are supporting the company to
unlock through a refined clinical strategy."

Catherine Pickering, Chief Executive Officer of iOnctura, said: "This
financing is validation of iOnctura's approach to developing precision cancer
treatments with maximum clinical impact. These therapies have the potential to
significantly prolong the healthspan of patients suffering with neglected
cancer types, such as uveal melanoma. We are pleased to welcome our new
investors Syncona and the EIC Fund alongside our existing strong syndicate.
Their experience will be invaluable as we look to advance our pipeline and
take iOnctura to its next stage of growth."

 

Professor Paresh Vyas, Co-founder and Chief Scientific Officer of Yellowstone,
said: "Frequently expressed antigens that can be targeted therapeutically are
notoriously difficult to find but, through two decades of research, we have
identified a new class of targets that have potential to treat cancer and
extend patient lives. We believe that our technology has the potential to
selectively kill tumour cells, whilst sparing healthy cells, in a range of
cancers. The strategy that we have built alongside Syncona, will initially
focus on developing highly selective TCR-based therapies for AML, where we
have formidable experience and data. Beyond that, we are committed to
broadening our pipeline to other cancer settings to maximise Yellowstone's
potential."

 

 ENDS 

 

 

 

 

Enquiries

 

Syncona Ltd

Natalie Garland-Collins / Fergus Witt

Tel: +44 (0) 20 3981 7940

 

FTI Consulting

Ben Atwell / Tim Stamper

Tel: +44 (0) 20 3727 1000

 

About Syncona

 

Syncona's purpose is to invest to extend and enhance human life. We do this by
creating, building and scaling companies to deliver transformational
treatments to patients in areas of high unmet need.

We aim to build and maintain a diversified portfolio of 20-25 globally leading
life science businesses, across development stage, modality and therapeutic
area, for the benefit of all our stakeholders. We focus on developing
treatments that deliver patient impact by working in close partnership with
world-class academic founders and experienced management teams. Our balance
sheet underpins our strategy, enabling us to take a long-term view as we look
to improve the lives of patients with no or poor treatment options, build
sustainable life science companies and deliver strong risk-adjusted returns to
shareholders.

 

Syncona Limited seeks to achieve returns over the long term. Investors should
seek to ensure they understand the risks and opportunities of an investment
in Syncona Limited, including the information in our published documentation,
before investing.

 

About iOnctura

iOnctura is a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company combating neglected and
hard-to-treat cancers with precision oral small molecules that target cancers
in novel ways. The bold new treatments extend lives and improve healthspans,
changing the outlook for patients and their families. Two therapeutic
candidates have progressed into mid-stage clinical development: roginolisib is
the first allosteric modulator of PI3Kδ and cambritaxestat is the only
autotaxin inhibitor in clinical development to treat cancer. iOnctura BV is
headquartered in Amsterdam, The Netherlands with its wholly owned Swiss
subsidiary, iOnctura SA, located in Geneva, Switzerland. iOnctura is backed by
specialist institutional investors including Syncona, EIC Fund, M Ventures,
Inkef Capital, VI Partners and Schroders Capital.

For more information please visit: http://www.ionctura.com/
(http://www.ionctura.com/)

 

About Yellowstone

Yellowstone is a biotechnology company working to create highly selective
targeted therapies for cancer. The company aims to unlock a new class of
therapeutically targetable, frequently expressed antigens with the potential
to significantly transform patient lives. Yellowstone utilises its proprietary
access to a unique biobank of tissue samples from acute myeloid leukaemia
(AML) patients to engineer T-cell receptor (TCR)-based bispecific T-cell
engagers for a range of incurable cancers. Leveraging its world-class protein
engineering capabilities and proprietary access to the biobank, Yellowstone is
advancing its lead programme in AML, with pipeline potential across a range of
other cancers exhibiting human leukocyte antigen (HLA) Class II expression. It
is headquartered in Oxford, UK, with backing from leading FTSE 250 healthcare
company Syncona.

 

For more information please visit: www.yellowstonebio.com
(http://www.yellowstonebio.com)

 1  Percentage holding reflects Syncona's ownership stake at the point full
current commitments are invested

 2  See footnote 1

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