REG-Arix Bioscience PLC Portfolio company Twelve Bio to be acquired alongside $85 million financing of Ensoma

Arix BioscienceAnnouncement

05/01/2023 16:30

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   Arix Bioscience PLC (ARIX)
   Portfolio company Twelve Bio to be acquired alongside $85 million
   financing of Ensoma

   05-Jan-2023 / 16:20 GMT/BST
   Dissemination of a Regulatory Announcement, transmitted by EQS Group.
   The issuer is solely responsible for the content of this announcement.

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                              Arix Bioscience plc

                                        

       Portfolio company Twelve Bio to be acquired alongside $85 million
   financing of Ensoma co-led by Arix to create best-in-class engineered cell
                                therapy platform

    

   London, UK, 5 January 2023 – Arix Bioscience plc (“Arix” or the “Company”)
   (LSE: ARIX),  a global  venture capital  company focused  on investing  in
   breakthrough biotechnology  companies, today  announces the  agreement  to
   acquire core portfolio company Twelve  Bio in an all-share transaction  in
   connection with an $85 million financing of Ensoma. Arix co-led the Ensoma
   financing as a new investor, investing $9 million.

    

   Twelve  Bio  is  a  gene   editing  company  pioneering  the   therapeutic
   application of  next-generation CRISPR-Cas  medicines. It  was a  spun-out
   from the  Novo  Nordisk Foundation  Centre  for Protein  Research  at  the
   University of Copenhagen  and Creation House  programme at Bio  Innovation
   Institute, with  Arix as  the sole  investor in  March 2021.  Ensoma is  a
   Boston-based  genomic  medicines  company  developing  one-time  in   vivo
   treatments that precisely engineer any cell of the hematopoietic system.

    

   Arix co-led the Ensoma financing alongside existing investor 5AM Ventures.
   Other new investors  include the  Bill & Melinda  Gates Foundation,  Qatar
   Investment Authority (QIA), Solasta  Ventures, Catalio Capital  Management
   and  Mirae  Asset.  Other  existing  Ensoma  investors  F-Prime   Capital,
   Cormorant Asset  Management,  Viking Global  Investors,  Takeda  Ventures,
   Inc., SymBiosis, Alexandria Venture Investments and Fred Hutchinson Cancer
   Center also participated. 

    

   Proceeds from the financing will enable Ensoma to advance the  development
   of its  in  vivo  engineered  cell therapy  platform  and  accelerate  its
   pipeline of genomic  medicines for immuno-oncology  and other  therapeutic
   applications.

    

   Robert Lyne, Chief Executive Officer of Arix, commented:

    

   “Arix was  instrumental  in spinning  out  Twelve Bio  and  providing  the
   resources to enable  the team  to develop  their technology  to the  stage
   where it can  play an exciting  part in  the future of  gene editing.  The
   agreement to acquire Twelve  Bio by Ensoma less  than two years after  our
   original investment is  a validation of  our focus on  the most  promising
   areas of biotechnology.  We are  delighted to have  co-led the  concurrent
   financing alongside  other  investors  of the  highest  quality  and  look
   forward to supporting the Ensoma team as they work to bring important  new
   treatments to the clinic.”

    

   Emile Nuwaysir, Ph.D.,  President and Chief  Executive Officer of  Ensoma,
   said:

    

   “Ensoma’s platform will enable  the next generation  of smart immune  cell
   medicines to address complex  diseases. With these expanded  capabilities,
   we can precisely engineer, in vivo,  the hematopoietic stem cell with  DNA
   edits as small as  one base pair  or as large  as 35 kilobase  insertions,
   with just a single intravenous administration. That combined capability is
   unprecedented. In  addition, Ensoma  now has  the capital,  expertise  and
   committed partners necessary  to bring our  breakthrough medicines to  the
   clinic. We  look  forward to  welcoming  the Twelve  Bio  team  and  their
   world-class expertise  to Ensoma  and are  immensely grateful  to new  and
   existing investors for  their support of  Ensoma’s mission to  democratize
   genomic medicines.”             

   In connection with the financing, Arix takes a seat on the Ensoma Board of
   Directors.

    

   Closing of the acquisition of Twelve Bio is subject to the satisfaction of
   customary closing conditions, including  clearance by the Danish  Business
   Authority pursuant to Danish foreign direct investment laws.

    

                                      ENDS 

    

    

    

    

   For more information, please contact:

    

   Arix Bioscience plc

   +44 (0)20 7290 1050

    1 ir@arixbioscience.com

    

   Powerscourt Group

   Sarah MacLeod, Ibrahim Khalil, Nick Johnson

   +44 (0)20 7250 1446

    2 arix@powerscourt-group.com

    

    

   Notes to Editors

    

   About Twelve Bio

   Twelve Bio was co-founded in 2019 by Stefano Stella, Ph.D., and  Guillermo
   Montoya, Ph.D., based on research conducted at the Novo Nordisk Foundation
   (NNF) Center for Protein  Research at the  University of Copenhagen.  With
   support from the  Creation House  program sponsored  by the  BioInnovation
   Institute in Copenhagen and seed  investment from Arix Bioscience,  Twelve
   Bio has advanced the foundational insights from X-ray crystallography  and
   cryogenic electron microscopy to further engineer and evolve CRISPR-Cas12a
   into wholly novel sequences with unique  properties useful for a range  of
   DNA editing strategies. This engineering builds on the natural  advantages
   of Cas12a,  including  small  size,  high  specificity,  multiplexing  and
   ability to target  sections of DNA  not amenable to  other Cas  nucleases.
   With the  addition of  this  world-class science  to the  existing  Ensoma
   platform, the  company will  be well-positioned  to advance  the field  of
   genome engineering, develop  the next  generation of  genome editors  with
   gene-writing capabilities  and create  a new  class of  smart immune  cell
   medicines targeting rare and prevalent disease.

    

   About Ensoma

   Ensoma believes  the future  of  medicine lies  within us.  The  company’s
   Engenious™ platform combines innovative delivery technology with the  full
   DNA editing toolkit  to tackle  diseases that affect  millions around  the
   world, such  as  cancer  and  autoimmune disease,  as  well  as  inherited
   conditions.  Ensoma  is  supported  by  top-tier  investors,  a  strategic
   collaboration with  Takeda and  a  passionate team  committed to  a  bold,
   global vision for genomic  medicine. Ensoma is based  in Boston. For  more
   information, visit www.ensoma.com. 

    

   About Arix Bioscience plc

   Arix Bioscience  plc  is  a  global venture  capital  company  focused  on
   investing in  breakthrough  biotechnology  companies  around  cutting-edge
   advances in life sciences.

    

   We collaborate  with exceptional  entrepreneurs and  provide the  capital,
   expertise, and  global  networks  to  help  accelerate  their  ideas  into
   important new treatments for patients. As a listed company, we are able to
   bring this exciting  growth phase of  our industry to  a broader range  of
   investors.  3 www.arixbioscience.com

    

   ══════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════

   ISIN:           GB00BD045071
   Category Code:  PFU
   TIDM:           ARIX
   LEI Code:       213800OVT3AHQCXNIX43
   OAM Categories: 3.1. Additional regulated information required to be
                   disclosed under the laws of a Member State
   Sequence No.:   213737
   EQS News ID:    1528835


    
   End of Announcement EQS News Service

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References

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