REG - Syncona Limited - Achilles announces sale of technology assets

SynconaAnnouncement

27/12/2024 07:00

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RNS Number : 3239R  Syncona Limited  27 December 2024

27 December 2024

 

Syncona Limited

 

Achilles announces sale of technology assets to AstraZeneca

 

Syncona Ltd, ("Syncona" or the "Company"), a leading life science investor
focused on creating, building and scaling a portfolio of global leaders in
life science, notes that its investment Achilles Therapeutics ("Achilles") has
announced the sale of technology assets to AstraZeneca. Completion of this
transaction signals the conclusion of the strategic review which was announced
in September 2024. Key details of the transaction include:

 

·    Transferring of the commercial license of data and samples from the
TRACERx® non-small cell lung cancer study 1  to AstraZeneca

·     AstraZeneca will also take over as sponsor of Achilles' Material
Acquisition Platform 2 , and receive tumour samples and data collected thus
far

·      AstraZeneca has agreed to pay Achilles $12 million for the assets
in total

 

Achilles now plans to undertake additional measures, including a further
reduction in employee headcount and a decrease in the size of its Board of
Directors.

As of 30 September 2024, Syncona's holding value in Achilles was £8.5
million, equating to 0.7% of Syncona's Net Asset Value.

Achilles' announcement is copied below and can be accessed on the company's
website at https://achillestx.com/ (https://achillestx.com/) .

 

 ENDS 

 

Enquiries

 

Syncona Ltd

 

Natalie Garland-Collins / Fergus Witt

Tel: +44 (0)20 3981 7912

 

FTI Consulting

 

Ben Atwell / 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
creating, building and scaling companies to deliver transformational
treatments to patients in areas of high unmet need.

 

We aim to build and maintain a diversified portfolio of 20-25 globally leading
life science businesses, across development stage, modality and therapeutic
area, for the benefit of all our stakeholders. We focus on developing
treatments that deliver patient impact by working in close partnership with
world-class academic founders and experienced 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.

 

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.

 

Syncona Limited seeks to achieve returns over the long term. Investors should
seek to ensure they understand the risks and opportunities of an investment in
Syncona Limited, including the information in our published documentation,
before investing.

 

Achilles Therapeutics Announces Sale of Technology Assets to AstraZeneca

- Proprietary data and samples from TRACERx and Achilles' Material Acquisition
Platform (MAP) will be transferred to AstraZeneca under the Transaction -

- Conclusion of Strategic Review -

London, UK 24 December 2024 - Achilles Therapeutics plc (NASDAQ: ACHL) today
announced that it has transferred the commercial license of data and samples
from the TRACERx® Non-Small Cell Lung Cancer (NSCLC) study to AstraZeneca
(LSE/STO/Nasdaq: AZN). TRACERx (TRAcking Cancer Evolution through therapy
(Rx)), led by Professor Charles Swanton at University College London (UCL),
UK, is one of the largest tumor evolution studies to generate deep sequencing
multi-region and multi-time-point genetic data from over 3,200 tumor samples
from over 800 lung cancer patients. As part of the transaction, AstraZeneca
will also take over as sponsor of Achilles' Material Acquisition Platform
(MAP), and receive tumor samples and data collected thus far. MAP is a
proprietary network that has collected donor tumor tissue and blood from
nearly 300 cancer patients undergoing standard-of-care cancer surgery across
multiple solid tumor indications, including lung, melanoma, head and neck,
renal, bladder, and breast.

"We are pleased that as a leader in Oncology, AstraZeneca recognizes the
scientific value of our TRACERx and MAP assets," said Dr Iraj Ali, CEO of
Achilles Therapeutics. "We believe that these assets have the potential to
positively impact Oncology R&D and will support the development of new and
improved therapies for cancer patients."

AstraZeneca has agreed to pay Achilles Therapeutics $12M for the assets in
total.

BofA Securities provided strategic financial advice to Achilles for the
transaction. Completion of this transaction signals the conclusion of
Achilles' strategic review which was announced in September 2024.  Achilles
now plans to undertake additional measures, including a further reduction in
employee headcount and a decrease in the size of its Board of Directors, while
remaining compliant with Nasdaq and SEC requirements.

About Achilles Therapeutics

Achilles is a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company that has been
developing AI-powered precision T cell therapies targeting clonal neoantigens:
protein markers unique to the individual that are expressed on the surface of
every cancer cell. Achilles has used DNA sequencing data from each patient,
together with its proprietary PELEUS(TM) bioinformatics platform, to identify
clonal neoantigens specific to that patient, to enable and support development
of product candidates specifically targeting those clonal neoantigens.

About TRACERx

TRACERx (TRAcking Cancer Evolution through therapy (Rx)), led by Professor
Charles Swanton at UCL, is one of the largest tumor evolution studies to
generate deep sequencing multi-region and multi-time point genetic data from
over 3,200 tumor samples from over 800 lung cancer patients. TRACERx has
transformed the understanding of tumor evolution and has convincingly shown
that tumors originate from a single cell that evolves in a Darwinian manner
and the early (clonal) mutations are preserved in all subsequent primary and
metastatic tumor cells. The study, which has generated numerous publications,
uncovered important mechanisms of cancer evolution and immune evasion by
analyzing genetic signatures in lung tumors and tracking how they evolve over
time from diagnosis through to relapse. These findings provide the ability to
identify a novel class of tumor markers called clonal neoantigens that are
present on all tumor cells yet absent from healthy tissue, making them ideal
cancer targets. TRACERx represents the largest investment in lung cancer
research by Cancer Research UK.

Forward Looking Statements

This press release contains express or implied forward-looking statements that
are based on the Company management's belief and assumptions and on
information currently available to the Company's management. Forward-looking
statements in this press release include, but are not limited to, statements
regarding the Company's clinical trials and the Company's beliefs about its
goals for the discontinued trials; expectations related to the Company's cash
runway and operating expenses and capital expense requirements; the Company's
ability to engage with third parties who are developing alternative modalities
to target clonal neoantigens for the treatment of cancers and the Company's
review and evaluation of potential strategic options and their impact on
stockholder value. Although the Company believes that the expectations
reflected in these forward-looking statements are reasonable, these statements
relate to future events or the Company's future operational or financial
performance, and involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other
factors that may cause the Company's actual results, performance, or
achievements to be materially different from any future results, performance
or achievements expressed or implied by these forward-looking statements. The
forward-looking statements in this press release represent the Company's views
as of the date of this press release. We anticipate that subsequent events and
developments will cause the Company's views to change. However, while the
Company may elect to update these forward-looking statements at some point in
the future, the Company has no current intention of doing so except to the
extent required by applicable law. You should therefore not rely on these
forward-looking statements as representing the Company's views as of any date
subsequent to the date of this press release.

For further information, please contact:

Meru Advisors

Lee M. Stern

lstern@meruadvisors.com (mailto:lstern@meruadvisors.com)

 1  TRACERx (TRAcking Cancer Evolution through therapy (Rx)), led by Professor
Charles Swanton at University College London (UCL), UK, is one of the largest
tumour evolution studies to generate deep sequencing multi-region and
multi-time-point genetic data from over 3,200 tumour samples from over 800
lung cancer patients

 2  MAP is a proprietary network that has collected donor tumour tissue and
blood from nearly 300 cancer patients undergoing standard-of-care cancer
surgery across multiple solid tumour indications, including lung, melanoma,
head and neck, renal, bladder, and breast

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