TIDMSYNC
RNS Number : 7733O
Syncona Limited
11 February 2021
New commitment to Quell in Syncona's largest ever Series A
financing
11 February 2021
-- Further commitment of GBP25.3 million in a GBP61.0 million
expanded Series A; taking Syncona's total commitment to Quell to
GBP59.3 million
-- First company globally targeting liver transplantation with
engineered T regulatory cell therapy; set for clinical entry in the
first half of 2022
-- Research programmes initiated in Type 1 Diabetes ("T1D") and
Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis ("ALS")
Syncona Ltd ("Syncona") announces a GBP25.3 million new
commitment in a GBP61.0 million expanded Series A financing for
Quell Therapeutics ("Quell"). This is the largest amount of funding
to date for any stand-alone engineered T regulatory cell (Treg)
company and this new commitment takes Syncona's total commitment to
this business to GBP59.3 million. Syncona has invested GBP35.1
million of its total commitment and values its investment at that
amount (equivalent to cost). Syncona will have a 74 per cent fully
diluted ownership stake in Quell at the point current commitments
are invested.
Quell has been established with the aim of developing engineered
Treg cell therapies. Tregs are a subset of T cells found naturally
in circulation, with the potential to downregulate the immune
system. Quell is seeking to utilise the power of these natural Treg
cells to advance therapies for the management and treatment of a
range of diseases including solid organ transplant rejection,
autoimmune and inflammatory diseases.
The company's first programme is targeting tolerance induction
post liver transplantation. Quell has nominated its clinical
candidate for this programme and expects to enter the clinic in the
first half of 2022. The business has now expanded its pipeline,
working in partnership with Syncona to identify and prioritise two
promising research programmes for ALS and T1D. The Quell team will
advance these programmes in part through its existing
collaborations with world leading institutions: the Sheffield
Institute for Translational Neuroscience (SITraN) at the University
of Sheffield and the Department of Gastroenterology, Hepatology and
Endocrinology at Hannover Medical School (MHH), to broaden its
focus beyond transplant and continue research in neuroinflammation
and autoimmune disease.
The expanded Series A financing will enable Quell to take its
first programme into the clinic, progress its research programmes
in T1D and ALS, develop a scalable manufacturing process and expand
its senior leadership team.
Martin Murphy, CEO of Syncona Investment Management Limited,
said: "Quell has made strong progress since its foundation in 2019
moving from concept to clinical candidate nomination in less than
18 months. The business was founded around the work of
world-leading academics and has progressed an exciting
first-in-class programme targeting tolerance induction post liver
transplantation leveraging the expertise in the company.
Syncona has also worked in close partnership with Quell's
leading management team to build out a pipeline of promising
programmes which we believe could offer patients transformative
therapies to resolve chronic diseases. This financing underscores
our belief and excitement about Quell's potential to be a global
leader in treating liver transplantation as well as autoimmune and
inflammatory diseases and we look forward to working closely with
the company as it continues to scale."
Iain McGill, Chief Executive of Quell Therapeutics, said : "We
have made tremendous progress with our lead programme in liver
transplantation over the past twelve months. We have selected our
first clinical candidate, QEL-001, and are progressing well through
process development. In parallel we have leveraged our Modular
Engineered Treg platform to build out a valuable pipeline in
autoimmune and neuroinflammatory diseases. We are leading the
scientific field in bringing these potentially transformative
therapies to patients, with our lead programme expected to be the
first multiply engineered Treg therapy to enter the clinic."
Professor Alberto Sanchez-Fueyo, Professor of Hepatology in the
Department of Inflammation Biology at Kings College London, said:
"Quell is focused on delivering its first programme targeting
tolerance induction post liver transplantation into the clinic.
This is particularly exciting for me as my passion is to try to
understand how the immune responses within the liver are regulated
and how we can treat patients without administering lifelong
immunosuppression. I think there is a fantastic opportunity with
our first product to provide a transformational impact for patients
and this funding is critical as we continue to make progress
towards that goal."
Professor Elmar Jaeckel, Group Leader of "Immune tolerance" in
the Department of Gastroenterology, Hepatology and Endocrinology at
Hannover Medical School said : "Tregs are vital for the induction
and maintenance of peripheral tolerance and are key in preventing
excessive immune responses and autoimmunity. Quell is working in
close collaboration with its academic partners to ensure we are
selecting the best possible targets and therapies in order to build
a pipeline that has the potential to fundamentally resolve the
treatment of chronic diseases."
[ENDS]
Enquiries
Syncona Ltd
Annabel Clay
Tel: +44 (0) 20 3981 7940
FTI Consulting
Ben Atwell / Natalie Garland-Collins / 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 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 strategic 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 Quell Therapeutics:
Quell Therapeutics is a privately held biotechnology company
with a vision to become a leading engineered Tregs cell therapy
company. The company is developing next generation engineered T
regulatory (Treg) cell therapies for a range of diseases of immune
dysfunction.
Quell Therapeutics was founded by Syncona in partnership with
six leading experts in the Treg field, cell engineering, solid
organ transplantation and autoimmune diseases: Giovanna Lombardi,
Professor of Human Transplant Immunology at Kings College London
(KCL), Alberto Sanchez-Fueyo, Professor of Hepatology in the
Institute of Liver Studies at KCL, Hans Stauss, Professor of Tumour
Immunology and Director of the Institute of Immunity and
Transplantation at University College London (UCL), Emma Morris,
Professor of Clinical Cell & Gene Therapy and Inflammation,
Immunity and Immunotherapeutics Theme Director, National Institute
for Health Research University College London Hospitals Biomedical
Research Centre, Marc Martinez-Llordella, Senior Lecturer in the
Institute of Liver Studies at KCL and Elmar Jaeckel, Co-Leader
Liver Transplant program MHH, Group Leader "Immune tolerance" in
the Department of Gastroenterology, Hepatology and Endocrinology at
Hannover Medical School.
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