REG - Syncona Limited - Syncona invests in £75.5 million OMass Series B

SynconaAnnouncement

28/04/2022 07:15

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RNS Number : 6100J  Syncona Limited  28 April 2022

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  (#_ftn1)

·   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  (#_ftn2)

 

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 (http://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
(file:///C:/Users/miguel.silva/AppData/Local/Microsoft/Windows/INetCache/Content.Outlook/AWP8QRC7/www.omass.com)
. Follow us on LinkedIn
(https://www.linkedin.com/company/omass-therapeutics/about/) and Twitter
(https://twitter.com/omasstx) .

 1  (#_ftnref1) To previous holding value as at 31 December 2021 plus drawdown
of final £4.8m of Series A investment

 2  (#_ftnref2) Percentage holding reflects Syncona's ownership stake at the
point full current commitments are invested on a fully-diluted basis

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