Business
Portfolio co Iksuda completes $42m financing round
Portfolio co Iksuda completes $42m financing round.
About this update from Ip Group Plc
[{"type":"text","content":"\n \n \n \n RNS Number : 9535A\n IP Group PLC\n 07 June 2021\n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n FOR RELEASE ON\n \n \n \n \n 07 June 2021\n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n IP Group plc - Portfolio company Iksuda Therapeutics completes $42m (£29.6m*) Series A financing round\n \n \n \n \n \n IP Group plc (LSE: IPO) (\"IP Group\" or \"the Group\"), the developer of intellectual property-based businesses, notes that portfolio company Iksuda Therapeutics Ltd (\"Iksuda\" or \"the Company\") has completed a $42 million Series A financing round, \n led by Korea-based Mirae Asset Capital and its subsidiaries, with Celltrion Inc. (\"Celltrion\") and Premier Partners.\n \n \n \n \n \n The funding will support the advancement of Iksuda's lead Antibody Drug Conjugate (\"ADC\") assets and expansion of its payload and conjugation platform technologies, enabling progression of its lead pre-clinical candidate, IKS03 - a best-in-class CD19-targeted ADC candidate for B-cell cancers, to first-in-human phase 1 clinical trials. The funding will also be used to accelerate the Company's earlier-stage programmes, including IKS04 and IKS012, to IND filing.\n \n \n \n \n \n Iksuda's ADC programmes target tumours that currently have limited treatment options and high relapse rates. The Company's drug development pipeline is centred on the improved safety and efficacy conferred by tumour activated, prodrug payloads in combination with stable conjugation technologies, including its proprietary novel PermaLink® platform. Iksuda's research-stage pipeline utilizes its proprietary Protein Alkylating (ProAlk) tumour-activated payload platform, recently licensed from Göttingen University. The novel mode of action for the ProAlk tuneable payload series differs from the field's primary focus of intra- or DNA inter-strand cross-linking, conferring benefits against drug and tumour resistance mechanisms, and enabling the development of more powerful, more tolerable ADCs.\n \n \n \n \n \n Following completion, IP Group will have a 19.4% undiluted beneficial stake in Iksuda, which the Directors anticipate will be valued at £8.3 million, representing a net unrealised fair value gain to the Group of approximately £5.3 million. IP Group has agreed to sell \n $5 million (£3.5 million*) worth of shares as part of the transaction to facilitate the introd...