Syncona Limited

Syncona invests in £75.5 million Series B financing of OMass Therapeutics

28 April 2022

·   Syncona invests in OMass' oversubscribed Series B financing of £75.5 million, committing £15 million, alongside a leading global syndicate of new and existing investors

·   Syncona's holding in OMass written up by £8 million (1p per share); a 32 per cent uplift[1]

·   Syncona's holding now valued at £44 million following first tranche investment of £9 million; on drawdown of the full Series B financing, Syncona's ownership stake in the business will be 31 per cent[2] 

Syncona Ltd, a leading healthcare company focused on founding, building and funding global leaders in life science, today announces that it has committed £15 million in an oversubscribed £75.5 million Series B financing in OMass Therapeutics ("OMass"), a biotechnology company that identifies medicines against highly validated target ecosystems. Syncona was a co-investor in this financing round, which was led by new investors GV, Northpond and Sanofi Ventures. Existing investors Oxford Science Enterprises and Oxford University also joined the round.

OMass, an Oxford University spin out, is developing small molecule drugs to treat rare diseases and immunological conditions. The company has a unique approach to the way it finds new medicines. It uses its proprietary drug discovery platform, OdyssION™, to more accurately interrogate the target and how it interacts with its native ecosystem. These observations provide potentially critical information that can increase the chances of finding highly effective small molecule medicines that will be successful in clinical trials.  

This latest financing brings the total amount that OMass has raised to £119 million. These proceeds will be used to advance OMass' small molecule portfolio towards clinical trials. This includes progressing the development of small molecule drugs to treat Congenital Adrenal Hyperplasia, Inflammatory Bowel Disease and other inflammatory and rare diseases.

Following the Series B financing, Syncona has revalued its existing investment which has resulted in a 32% uplift in the value of its stake in OMass. Including the drawdown of the first tranche of Syncona's Series B investment of £15 million, Syncona's holding value of OMass is now £44 million. On drawdown of the full Series B financing, Syncona's ownership stake in OMass will be 31 per cent.

Edward Hodgkin, Chair of OMass and Partner at Syncona said: "We are pleased with this financing round which will support OMass as it looks to progress its pipeline of small molecule drugs. The strength of this global group of top tier life science investors reflects confidence in the company's technology and supports our ambition to build a sustainable therapeutics business that has the potential to develop novel drugs in areas of high unmet medical need. This financing represents a further validation of the ability of Syncona's portfolio companies to attract high quality syndicates, to fund them over the long-term."

Magdalena Jonikas, Director of OMass and Partner at Syncona said: "Early data has shown the potential of OdyssION™ as a powerful tool in drug discovery. The team at OMass has been working hard to develop a defined pipeline of targets, with strong potential across a variety of indications in immunology and rare diseases. We look forward to seeing them continue to build on recent momentum as they progress towards the clinic."

Ros Deegan, Chief Executive Officer of OMass said: "The completion of this oversubscribed round with such high-calibre investors is recognition of the significance of our OdyssION™ platform and its potential to support the development of an exciting portfolio of novel drug candidates. We have already made significant progress against highly validated but previously 'undruggable' targets and can now accelerate them towards clinical development while continuing to expand our pipeline."

[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

Natalie Garland-Collins / Fergus Witt

Tel: +44 (0) 7714 916615

FTI Consulting

Ben Atwell / Julia Bradshaw / 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 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 OMass Therapeutics

OMass Therapeutics is a biotechnology company discovering medicines against highly-validated target ecosystems, such as membrane proteins or intracellular complexes. The company's unique OdyssION™ technology platform comprises novel biochemistry techniques, next-generation native mass spectrometry, and custom chemistry. This allows OMass to interrogate not just the target, but also the interaction of the target with its native ecosystem, separate from the confounding complexity of the cell. The result is cell-system fidelity with cell-free precision. OMass is advancing a pipeline of small molecule therapeutics in rare diseases and immunological conditions, therapeutics that target solute carriers, complex-bound proteins, and GPCRs.

Headquartered in Oxford, UK, OMass has raised over $150M (£119M) from a top-tier international investor syndicate, including Syncona, Oxford Science Enterprises, GV, Northpond Ventures, and Sanofi Ventures.

To learn more, please visit www.omass.com. Follow us on LinkedIn and Twitter.