Syncona Limited

Blackstone Life Sciences to invest $250 million in Autolus Therapeutics

08 November 2021

Syncona Ltd, a leading healthcare company focused on founding, building and funding a portfolio of global leaders in life science, today announced that Blackstone Life Sciences ("Blackstone") has entered into a strategic collaboration and financing agreement with Syncona portfolio company Autolus Therapeutics plc ("Autolus"). The key terms of the financing agreement are set out below:

·      $250 million transaction: $100 million immediate equity investment and up to $150 million in product financing to support lead obe-cel) programme

·      $50 million of product financing is payable on closing of the transaction with the remainder payable based on certain near-term milestones, meaning a total $150 million upfront cash infusion

·      Blackstone will appoint a member to the Autolus Board of Directors and will receive a capped mid-single digit royalty based on product revenues generated with worldwide net sales of obe-cel and potential next generation products

Further details of this transaction can be found in the announcement by Autolus, which can be accessed on Autolus' investor website at https://www.autolus.com/investor-relations.

Martin Murphy, Chief Executive Officer of Syncona Investment Management Limited, said: "We are delighted that Blackstone are investing in Autolus and remain excited about the obe-cel1 programme as a potentially stand-alone treatment for patients with adult acute lymphoblastic leukaemia (ALL). We believe the business is well positioned and well-funded to deliver obe-cel data from the ongoing pivotal FELIX study next year alongside progressing its broader pipeline. We believe that obe-cel represents a potentially best-in-class product that could represent a transformational treatment option for adult ALL patients."

[ENDS]

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

This announcement includes information that is inside information as defined in Article 7 of the Market Abuse Regulation (EU) No.596/2014. The person responsible for arranging for the release of this announcement on behalf of Syncona Ltd is Andrew Cossar, General Counsel, SIML.

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 companies 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 dynamic 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 few treatment options, build sustainable life science companies and deliver strong risk-adjusted returns to shareholders.

About Autolus Therapeutics plc

Autolus is a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company developing next-generation, programmed T cell therapies for the treatment of cancer. Using a broad suite of proprietary and modular T cell programming technologies, the Company is engineering precisely targeted, controlled and highly active T cell therapies that are designed to better recognize cancer cells, break down their defense mechanisms and eliminate these cells. Autolus has a pipeline of product candidates in development for the treatment of hematological malignancies and solid tumors. For more information, please visit www.autolus.com.