Portfolio co Pulmocide completes $92m Series C

IP Group plc - Portfolio company Pulmocide completes $92m (£65m*) Series C financing round

IP Group plc (LSE: IPO) ("IP Group" or "the Group"), the developer of intellectual property-based businesses, notes that portfolio company Pulmocide Ltd ("Pulmocide" or "the Company"), a late-stage biopharmaceutical company developing novel inhaled therapies for patients suffering from serious acute and chronic respiratory diseases, has completed a $92 million (£65m*) Series C financing round.

The round, which was oversubscribed, was led by Jeito Capital with IP Group committing $10.0 million (£7.1 million*) which will be tranched and subject to the achievement of certain milestones. Following completion and the investment of the first tranche of £2.2 million, IP Group will have a 14.4% undiluted beneficial stake in Pulmocide, which will be valued at £8.0 million.

Proceeds from the financing will primarily be used to advance the Company's lead asset PC945 through a global Phase III registration program in patients with invasive pulmonary aspergillosis (IPA) who have failed prior therapy. PC945 is a potent, novel triazole antifungal that has been specifically designed for use as an inhaled therapy. Its pharmaceutical properties allow it to accumulate when nebulized in lung airway epithelial cells and macrophages, effectively delivering large, sustained doses to the site of infection in the lung while minimizing systemic drug levels.

Dr Sam Williams, Managing Partner, IP Group Life Sciences, said: "Pulmocide has shown great progress over the last 12 months in moving PC945 towards Phase 3 clinical studies. PC945 has already shown profound positive impact on the lives of patients suffering with severe, refractive fungal lung infection and is one of the key late-stage assets in the IP Group Life Sciences portfolio. We are therefore delighted to be making a significant contribution to this Series C financing round."

Under a compassionate use designation across several clinical centers in the United Kingdom, PC945 was found to be well tolerated and demonstrated remarkable clinical responses. In this program patients with a variety of different clinical profiles that had failed all other treatment options responded well when PC945 was added to their treatment regimen. Case study examples of these responses were recently published in the Journal of Heart and Lung Transplantation (https://www.jhltonline.org/article/S1053-2498(20)31762-9/fulltext). The PC945 registration program is expected to begin recruiting patients later this year.

Other new investors participating in the round were Adjuvant Capital and Asahi Kasei Pharma alongside existing investors SV Health Investors, SR One, F-Prime Capital, Johnson & Johnson Innovation - JJDC, Inc., and Longwood Fund.

*GBP equivalents calculated using 1.41 USD/GBP.

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About IP Group

IP Group is a leading intellectual property commercialisation company which focuses on evolving great ideas, mainly from its partner universities, into world-changing businesses. The Group has pioneered a unique approach to developing these ideas and the resulting businesses by providing access to business building expertise, capital (through its 100%-owned FCA-authorised subsidiaries IP Capital and Parkwalk Advisors), networks, recruitment and business support. IP Group has a strong track record of success and its portfolio comprises holdings in early-stage to mature businesses across life sciences and technology. IP Group is listed on the Main Market of the London Stock Exchange under the code IPO.

Group holdings in portfolio companies reflect the undiluted beneficial equity interest excluding debt, unless otherwise explicitly stated.

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