Artios Pharma Announces $84 Million (£65 Million) Series B Financing

CAMBRIDGE, England, August 10, 2018 /PRNewswire/ --

Financing Round Led by New Investors Andera Partners and LSP 

Artios Pharma Limited (Artios), a leading DNA Damage Response (DDR) company developing innovative treatments for cancer, today announced the completion of a $84 million (£65 million) Series B financing following high interest from investors. The financing, which was significantly oversubscribed, was led by Andera Partners (formerly EdRIP) and LSP (Life Sciences Partners), with participation by additional new investors Pfizer Ventures and Novartis Venture Fund (NVF). Artios' existing shareholders Arix Bioscience, SV Health Investors, M Ventures, IP Group plc and AbbVie Ventures also participated in the fundraise.

Commenting on today's announcement, Raphael Wisniewski, Partner of Andera Partners, said: "We believe Artios' DDR programmes have the potential to bring real impact to cancer patients. DDR is an exciting field of biology, which has been clinically validated by the first generation PARP inhibitors currently on the market. The new funds will allow Artios to advance its portfolio of first-in-class, small molecule DDR programmes including its lead programme targeting DNA polymerase theta (Polθ), through clinical proof of concept trials. We are delighted to work with the management team in building a world class DDR targeted oncology company."

Dr Rene Kuijten, Managing Partner of LSP, commented: "Artios represents a unique opportunity to deliver a truly world class biotech company. LSP has worked with Artios' team before at KuDOS (successfully sold to AstraZeneca) which developed olaparib, the first approved PARP inhibitor and used in ovarian and breast cancer, creating a billion dollar market. We are very excited to support this proven management team once again as it seeks to build on its leading position in the DDR field by advancing its programmes into clinical development."

Niall Martin, Chief Executive Officer of Artios, added: "We are delighted to welcome Andera Partners, LSP, Pfizer Ventures and Novartis Venture Fund to Artios and I would like to thank our existing investors for their continued support, which will help us develop and deliver our exciting DDR targeted therapies to cancer patients. This investor syndicate creates a very strong and committed shareholder base with a track record of supporting successful next generation companies. The oversubscribed Series B fundraise is a strong endorsement of our world-leading development pipeline and reflects the opportunity for DDR to yield new breakthrough oncology products."

Artios is actively developing a pipeline of highly promising first-in-class DDR therapies identified from a global network of leading researchers in the DDR field, including through Cancer Research UK. The inhibition of novel DNA repair targets like Polθ, in tumours where DNA damage response factors have been lost or down regulated, will lead to cancer cells being selectively killed without harming normal cells. This creates an opportunity for such products to be used both in monotherapy and in combination with existing and future cancer therapies.

In conjunction with the Series B financing, Raphael Wisniewski from Andera Partners, Rene Kuijten from LSP and Barbara Dalton from Pfizer Ventures, will join the Board of Artios as directors and Florian Muellershausen from NVF will join as an observer. This financing follows a $36 million Series A fundraise that was completed in September 2016.

About Artios Pharma Limited 

Artios is a leading DNA Damage Response (DDR) company focused on developing first-in-class treatments for cancer. The Company, founded by SV Health Investors in 2016, is led by an experienced scientific and leadership team with proven expertise in DDR drug discovery. It has a unique partnership with Cancer Research UK (CRUK), and collaborations with leading DNA repair researchers worldwide, such as the National Centre for Biomolecular Research at Masaryk University. Artios is building a pipeline of next-generation DDR programmes to target hard to treat cancers. Backed by blue chip investors including: Arix Bioscience plc - Artios' largest shareholder, SV Health Investors, M Ventures, IP Group plc, AbbVie Ventures, Andera Partners (formerly EdRIP), LSP (Life Science Partners), Pfizer Ventures and Novartis Venture Fund (NVF). Artios is based at the Babraham Research Campus in Cambridge, UK. www.artiospharma.com

About Andera Partners 

Andera Partners, was created in 2001 as part of the Edmond de Rothschild Group and is a leader in investments in unlisted companies in France and internationally. It manages over €2 billion in investments in life sciences (BioDiscovery), growth capital and OBO (Winch Capital for midcap and Cabestan Capital for small-cap) and sponsorless mezzanine debt (ActoMezz).

Wholly owned by its staff, Andera Partners' core values focus on partnering with entrepreneurs and respect for its business partners. The company is also a signatory to the UNPRI, the United Nations Principles for Responsible Investment, which aims to incorporate environmental, social and governance (ESG) issues into investment practice.

Andera Partners will continue to raise funds in its current segments. Andera Partners is an AMF-accredited asset management company and has 60 employees, 40 of whom are investment professionals. The firm has a partnership management structure and is run by a board of 10 partners.

The performance of the firm's funds, its management structure and the range of its services have identified Andera Partners as a leader in its markets. For more information, please visit www.anderapartners.com.

About LSP 

LSP (Life Sciences Partners) is an independent European investment firm, providing financing for private and public life sciences companies. LSP's mission is to connect investors to inventors, focusing on unmet medical needs. Since the late 1980s, LSP's management has invested in about 100 innovative enterprises, many of which have grown to become leaders of the global life sciences industry. With over EUR1.7 billion (USD 2.0 billion) of investment capital raised to date and offices in Amsterdam, Munich and Boston, LSP is one of Europe's leading life sciences investors. LSP also invests in public companies through its Euronext-listed LSP Life Sciences Fund (Bloomberg: LSP NA). Artios is the first investment of LSP's latest flagship fund, LSP 6.  For more information, please visit www.lspvc.com

About Pfizer Ventures 

Pfizer Ventures (PV), the venture capital arm of Pfizer Inc. was founded in 2004 and invests for return in areas of current or future strategic interest to Pfizer. PV seeks to remain at the forefront of life science advances, looking to identify and invest in emerging companies that are developing transformative medicines and technologies that have the potential to enhance Pfizer's pipeline and shape the future of our industry. For more information, please visit www.pfizerventures.com.

About Novartis Venture Fund 

Novartis Venture Fund is a financially driven corporate life science venture fund whose purpose is to foster innovation, drive significant patient benefit and generate superior returns by creating and investing in innovative life science companies at various stages of their development, independent from Novartis' strategy. For more information go to www.nvfund.com.

For more information about Artios Pharma Ltd., please contact:

Artios Pharma Ltd.
Niall Martin, Chief Executive Officer
Nick Staples, Chief Business Officer
Tel: +44-(0)-1223-804180

US Enquiries
Burns McClellan
Jill Steier/ John Grimaldi
artios@burnsmc.com