Innovation community news – July
Published on 24 July 2024
A summary of recent news and announcements from Milton Park-based companies:
- Grey Wolf Therapeutics closes £39m Series B financing
- Eden Research appoints new global commercial lead
- Replimune raises £78m in new funding
- Emergex wins MHRA production approval
- Tokamak Energy joins fusion project
- Immunocore begins melanoma drug trial
Grey Wolf Therapeutics closes £39m Series B financing
Grey Wolf Therapeutics, a clinical-stage biotech company based at Milton Park, has secured an additional £39m in Series B financing, raising the total to £78m.
The funds will support the expansion of its clinical trial for an innovative immuno-oncology treatment and advance research into autoimmune disease therapies. Grey Wolf Therapeutics plans to develop a second inhibitor targeting autoimmune diseases, with clinical trials expected to start in 2025.
Peter Joyce, Ph.D., Chief Executive Officer of Grey Wolf Therapeutics said: “The funds raised as part of this Series B expansion round allows us to enrich our ongoing clinical trial to include patients with a wider variety of tumour types and evaluate new combination treatment cohorts.”
Eden Research appoints new global commercial lead
Milton Park-based Eden Research has appointed Humair Tariq as its new global commercial lead with immediate effect. Tariq, who has extensive experience in the crop protection industry, will be responsible for driving commercial efforts, fostering partnerships, developing new relationships and increasing revenue growth.
Eden Research continues to grow, reporting a revenue increase to £3.2 million for the year ending December 31, 2023, up from £1.8 million the previous year, while also reducing its operating losses by 27 per cent.
Sean Smith, Chief Executive Officer for Eden Research, said: “Humair’s appointment is a demonstration of our intent to add to our team’s resources and capabilities, supported by our stronger balance sheet following last summer’s fundraise and our increasing revenue streams, as we continue to grow the company organically across various fronts.”
Replimune raises £79m in new funding
Pioneering the development of a novel class of immunotherapies, Milton Park occupier Replimune has entered into a securities purchase agreement for a private investment in public equity, resulting in gross proceeds of £79m.
The company intends to use the proceeds of the financing to fully scale up for the commercialisation of RP1 in skin cancers, thereby creating a potential path to profitability and for working capital and general corporate purposes.
Pathios Therapeutics’ strategic investment for cancer immunotherapy
Pathios Therapeutics has secured $25 million in Series B financing, including a strategic investment from Bristol Myers Squibb.
This funding will accelerate the development of Pathios Therapeutics’ innovative cancer immunotherapy targeting GPR65. The investment will also support the expansion of its team and enhance its capabilities in developing first-in-class therapies.
Emergex Vaccines wins MHRA production approval
Milton Park occupier, Emergex Vaccines has received its manufacturing and import authorisation and investigational medicinal product license from the UK’s Medicines and Healthcare Products Regulatory Agency, to advance its novel T cell-priming vaccine candidates into clinical production.
Laszlo Fekete, Quality Director at Emergex Vaccines, commented: “We are thrilled to announce the GMP certification of our in-house facilities, a critical milestone that allows us to confidently proceed with production of our novel T cell-priming vaccine candidates into clinical use.
“The infectious disease solutions we are developing aim to address significant unmet medical needs, offering the potential to provide coverage for billions of individuals at risk for dengue and pandemic influenza, among other urgent global health challenges. The MIA (IMP) license grants us the privilege and responsibility to manufacture clinical-grade products to protect these huge at-risk populations.”
Tokamak Energy joins fusion project
Tokamak Energy has signed an agreement with the Department of Energy (DOE) as part of the United States’ vision for delivering commercial fusion. The DOE’s £36m milestone-based fusion development programme was established to support private companies in bringing fusion toward technical and commercial viability.
Selected companies will now team with national laboratories, universities and others to address major technical and commercialisation milestones for the successful design of a fusion pilot plant. Tokamak Energy will demonstrate net power from its pilot plant in the mid-2030s.
Michael Ginsberg, Tokamak Energy Inc. President, said: “We are delighted to officially sign up to the United States Department of Energy milestone-based fusion development programme.
It’s fantastic that the strength of our team and technology, combining the spherical tokamak with high temperature superconducting magnets, has been recognised as part of the US’ bold decadal vision to accelerate commercial fusion.”
Immunocore begins melanoma drug trial
Immunocore has announced the randomisation of the first patient in a trial assessing the efficacy and safety of brenetafusp, in combination with nivolumab, in first-line advanced or metastatic cutaneous melanoma.
The trial will test whether combining brenetafusp with nivolumab may be a more effective treatment option than current standards of care for newly diagnosed metastatic or advanced cutaneous melanoma patients.
Mohammed Dar, Senior Vice President, Clinical Development and Chief Medical Officer at Immunocore, said: “We are very proud to have started the registrational programme for brenetafusp, our PRAME candidate, supported by the recent promising brenetafusp monotherapy data in late-line cutaneous melanoma.”
