Syncona Limited

Syncona leads $87 million Series A financing of Clade Therapeutics, a new cell therapy company

03 November 2021

·      Expansion of Syncona's cell therapy portfolio into next generation stem cell-based medicine

·      $30 million (£21.7 million) commitment from Syncona, leading a $87 million (£63 million) Series A financing of Clade Therapeutics alongside a syndicate of specialist global investors

·      First tranche of $15.0 million (£10.8 million) invested by Syncona (equal to current holding value); Syncona will have a 22.6 per cent stake in the business at the point all current commitments are invested

Syncona Ltd, a leading healthcare company focused on founding, building and funding a portfolio of global leaders in life science, today announces that it has committed $30.0 million (£21.7 million[1]) to Clade Therapeutics (Clade), in a $87 million (£63 million) Series A financing. Syncona's holding value in Clade is £11.2 million[2] following the investment of the first tranche of the Series A commitment and, at the point all current commitments are invested, Syncona will have 22.6 per cent stake in the business.

Syncona led the financing round alongside specialist investors including LifeSci Ventures, Emerson Collective, and global biopharmaceutical company Bristol Myers-Squibb.

Clade has been established with the aim of discovering and delivering scalable next generation induced pluripotent stem cell (iPSC)-derived medicines. It is led by Dr. Chad Cowan, Chief Executive Officer at Clade, scientific co-founder of CRISPR Therapeutics and former Associate Professor at Harvard University in the Department of Stem Cell and Regenerative Biology, and Dr. Jim Glasheen, Chief Business Officer at Clade, co-founder of Atlanta Therapeutics and former general partner at Technology Partners Venture Capital. The company's proprietary platform technology enables the immune 'cloaking' of human pluripotent stem cells, meaning that cells are protected from the body's immune system, potentially enabling long-term persistence and allowing for the development of allogeneic cell transplantation therapies.

The Syncona team will work closely with Clade as it builds out its operations. Chief Executive Officer, Martin Murphy, will join the Board, and Syncona Partner, Freddie Dear will act as a Board observer. Clade is Syncona's 12^th company in its current portfolio and sixth in the cell therapy space.

Martin Murphy, Chief Executive Officer of Syncona Investment Management Limited, said: "Clade is an exciting addition to our portfolio. The Syncona team has deep domain expertise in the cell therapy space, and we have been proactively looking for a high-quality and differentiated opportunity in the next generation stem cell-based medicine field. Clade has a world-class platform with potentially unprecedented scalability and standardisation allied to innovation in hypo-immunogenic shielding consistent with enhanced product persistence in patients. Clade has an ambitious team with a demonstrable track record, and we are looking forward to working together with Chad, Jim and colleagues as they grow the company and develop their technology.

Clade is the twelfth company in our portfolio and the sixth in the cell therapy space. Our investment today further enhances our world leading position in the space and continues to diversify our exposure in the field across a range of modalities."

Freddie Dear, Partner at Syncona Investment Management Limited, said: "Our commitment to Clade reflects our passion for their technology, our strong belief in the promise of cell therapy and our significant expertise in this field.  We believe the therapies Clade is seeking to develop have the potential to have a transformational impact on patients and we are looking forward to working in close partnership with the Clade team to deliver on this potential."

Chad Cowan, Chief Executive Officer of Clade Therapeutics, said: "We have reached an era in medicine where insights across genetic engineering, regenerative medicine and immunology have enabled a revolution of cell medicines. Clade was founded to overcome the clinical limitations of current cell therapies by addressing durability, patient compatibility, reproducibility and scalability to deliver on the transformative potential of this increasingly important therapeutic modality."

[ENDS]

Copies of this press release and other corporate information can be found on the company website at: www.synconaltd.com 

Forward-looking statements - this announcement contains certain forward-looking statements with respect to the portfolio of investments of Syncona Limited. These statements and forecasts involve risk and uncertainty because they relate to events and depend upon circumstances that may or may not occur in the future. There are a number of factors that could cause actual results or developments to differ materially from those expressed or implied by these forward-looking statements. In particular, many companies in the Syncona Limited portfolio are conducting scientific research and clinical trials where the outcome is inherently uncertain and there is significant risk of negative results or adverse events arising. In addition, many companies in the Syncona Limited portfolio have yet to commercialise a product and their ability to do so may be affected by operational, commercial and other risks.

Enquiries

Syncona Ltd

Annabel Clay / Fergus Witt        

Tel: +44 (0) 20 3981 7940

FTI Consulting

Ben Atwell / Natalie Garland-Collins / 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 founding and building a portfolio of global leaders in life science to deliver transformational treatments to patients in areas of high unmet need.

Our strategy is to found, build and fund companies around exceptional science to create a diversified portfolio of 15-20 globally leading healthcare businesses for the benefit of all our stakeholders. We focus on developing treatments for patients by working in close partnership with world-class academic founders and 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.

About Clade Therapeutics

Clade Therapeutics' mission is to discover and deliver next generation cell medicines to improve the lives of patients in need. Our platform technology "cloaks" human pluripotent stem cells and their adult derivatives enabling the development of immune compatible cell transplantation therapies. Led by a world-class team of company builders and scientific innovators with an unparalleled expertise in generating stem cell-derived adult T, NK and B cells, Clade promises to become a leading innovator in developing widely accessible cell medicines. The company is initially focused on harnessing the potential of "cloaked" immune cells for cancer treatment.