Anaveon doses first patient in Phase I/II study

Syncona Limited

24 June 2021

Anaveon doses first patient in Phase I/II study

·      ANV419 is a selective interleukin-2 (IL-2) agonist with the potential to target cancer

·   The fifth of Syncona's current portfolio of 11 companies to reach clinical stage; opportunity for value progression at clinical stage

Syncona Ltd, a leading healthcare company focused on founding, building and funding a portfolio of global leaders in life science, announces that Anaveon AG ("Anaveon"), a clinical-stage immuno-oncology company, has dosed its first patient in a Phase I/II study of ANV419.

ANV419 is a selective IL-2 Receptor Agonist, a type of protein which has the potential to therapeutically enhance a patient's immune system to respond to tumours. In the body, human IL-2 stimulates a type of immune cell, called a T-cell, to multiply and differentiate into active "effector" cells. Under certain situations, T-cells are able to attack tumours and, consistent with this, human IL-2 is already approved as a medicine for the treatment of metastatic melanoma and renal cancer. ANV419 has been designed to seek to overcome known challenges with selectivity, toxicity and durability of human IL-2. This type of product, if approved, could be used both as a monotherapy and in combination with other treatments (e.g. checkpoint antibodies) in the treatment of solid and liquid tumours.

Anaveon expects to report initial data by the end of CY2021. Anaveon is the fifth company in the Company's current portfolio to enter the clinic.

Martin Murphy, CEO of Syncona Investment Management Limited, said: "We are encouraged by Anaveon's strong progress since our first investment in the company in 2019. The first patient dosing comes off the back of pre-clinical data which has shown that ANV419 has the potential to be a best-in-class asset. Whilst not without risk, the clinical data generated by the company will be a critical driver of value and there is a fast timeline for the company to show differentiation against competing products. We are excited about its potential."

Dr Christoph Bucher, Chief Medical Officer of Anaveon, said: "Dosing our first patient represents an important validation of our approach and is a significant milestone for Anaveon. We have initiated the first two arms of a multi part, dose finding study of ANV419 as a monotherapy in patients with solid tumours. Our compound has excellent tolerability and marked efficacy in a variety of tumour models and elicits strong and selective proliferation of effector cells in multiple settings."

[ENDS]

Enquiries

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About Syncona

Syncona's purpose is to invest to extend and enhance human life. We do this by founding, building and funding 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 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 Anaveon

Anaveon is a clinical stage, biopharmaceutical company, based in Switzerland, that develops biologics to modulate the function of cytokines and provide substantial therapeutic benefit to cancer patients.  Our vision is to develop novel immune therapies benefiting patients suffering from a wide variety of diseases with immune pathology. For further information please visit the Company's website at: www.anaveon.com.