SynOx Therapeutics raises €37M in Series A Financing

- HealthCap and Medicxi co-lead, joined by Forbion and Gimv

- Financing to develop emactuzumab to improve the lives of patients with tenosynovial giant cell tumours

DUBLIN, Nov. 19, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- SynOx Therapeutics Ltd ("SynOx"), a clinical stage biopharmaceutical company, announces today the closing of a €37 million Series A financing co-led by HealthCap and Medicxi and joined by investors Forbion and Gimv.  

SynOx, a spin out of Celleron Therapeutics Ltd ("Celleron"), secured exclusive world-wide rights for the clinical development, manufacturing and commercialization of emactuzumab under a licence agreement with Roche. The financing will enable SynOx to continue the development of emactuzumab, for the treatment of diffuse tenosynovial giant cell tumours ("TGCT"), also known as pigmented villonodular synovitis ("PVNS"), and other indications.

Emactuzumab is a clinical-stage humanised IgG1 CSF-1R targeted antibody designed to target and deplete macrophages in the tumour tissue. It has shown a favourable safety profile in patients and encouraging efficacy for TGCT, a rare disease characterised by the proliferation of macrophages in the synovial tissue in the joint and tendon sheath.

Professor Nick La Thangue, Chief Executive Officer of SynOx, commented: "We are very excited to be developing emactuzumab as a breakthrough treatment for the extreme and debilitating effects of TGCT.  SynOx will be focused on generating all necessary data to register this new therapy in a time- and cost-efficient way."

Jacob Gunterberg, Partner at HealthCap, said: "With the objective to develop a new therapy for TGCT patients who suffer from a significantly reduced quality of life, the involvement in the establishment and investment in SynOx fits very well with our investment strategy."

Francesco De Rubertis, Partner at Medicxi, commented: "We are excited to support SynOx in its continued development of emactuzumab, an agent which has demonstrated profound efficacy in over 60 TGCT patients treated to date."

The SynOx Board will consist of Jacob Gunterberg (HealthCap), Francesco De Rubertis (Medicxi), Dirk Kersten (Forbion), Michaël Vlemmix (Gimv), Declan Doogan (chairman of Celleron) and Nick La Thangue.

About SynOx Therapeutics

SynOx is a clinical stage biopharmaceutical company. It is a spin out from Celleron Therapeutics Ltd, an oncology company focused on the clinical development of new and innovative therapies to treat cancer. SynOx is developing  emactuzumab, a best-in-class CSF1R targeted therapeutic antibody designed to target and deplete tumour-associated macrophages in the tumour tissue.  SynOx is led by a team of experts that combines biotech and pharma experience with a successful track record of developing and bringing products to market. It is backed by a strong investor syndicate – HealthCap, Medicxi, Forbion and Gimv. 

Please visit us at: https://synoxtherapeutics.com/ and on Twitter: @SynOx_Tx

A paper on emactuzumab was published in the European Journal of Cancer, Volume 141, December 2020 edition, Long-term clinical activity, safety and patient-reported quality of life for emactuzumab-treated patients with diffuse-type tenosynovial giant-cell tumour

https://www.ejcancer.com/article/S0959-8049(20)31046-7/abstract 

About Celleron Therapeutics

Celleron is an oncology company focussed on the clinical development of new and innovative therapies to treat cancer. Celleron is developing a novel group of clinical products, supported by predictive companion diagnostics, that act through defined molecular mechanisms to prevent cancer cell growth. The company's lead products are in clinical trials, supported by a biomarker platform that allows responsive patients to be identified. The company has deep relationships with Oxford University and is located on the Oxford Science Park, United Kingdom. Please visit us at: https://cellerontherapeutics.com

Investor Syndicate Details:

About HealthCap

HealthCap is one of the largest specialized providers of venture capital within life sciences in Europe. Since the start in 1996, HealthCap has backed and built more than 100 companies. HealthCap's investment strategy focuses on diseases with high unmet medical needs and breakthrough therapies which have the potential to be transformative and improve the lives of patients suffering from these conditions. Please see: www.healthcap.eu and on Twitter: @HealthCapVC

About Medicxi

Medicxi is a European venture capital firm with the mission to create and invest in companies along the full drug development continuum. Medicxi was established by the former Index Ventures life sciences team, which has been active for over 20 years, and invests in both early and late-stage assets with a product vision that can fulfil a clear unmet medical need. GSK, Johnson & Johnson Innovation – JJDC, Inc., Novartis and Verily (an Alphabet company) have invested in Medicxi funds.

For more information, please visit us at www.medicxi.com and follow us on Twitter: @medicxi

About Forbion

Forbion is a dedicated life sciences venture capital firm with offices in The Netherlands, Germany and Singapore. Forbion manages well over EUR 1.25 billion across multiple fund strategies that cover all stages of (bio)pharmaceutical drug development. Forbion's current team consists of 20 life sciences investment professionals that have built an impressive performance track record since the late nineties with successful investments in over 69 companies. Its investors include the EIF, through its European Recovery Programme (ERP), LfA, Dutch Venture Initiative (DVI), AMUF and EFSI facilities and KfW Capital through the Programme, "ERP – Venture Capital Fund Investment". For more information, please visit: www.forbion.com

About Gimv

Gimv is a European investment company, listed on Euronext Brussels, with 40 years' experience in private equity and venture capital. The company currently has a portfolio of EUR 1.2 billion of investments in around 50 portfolio companies, with combined turnover of EUR 2.5 billion and 14,000 employees. As a recognized market leader in selected investment platforms, Gimv identifies entrepreneurial, innovative companies with high growth potential and supports them in their transformation into market leaders. Gimv's four investment platforms are Connected Consumer, Health & Care, Smart Industries and Sustainable Cities. Further information on Gimv can be found on: www.gimv.com