Oxford Biomedica Secures up to $67.5 Million in Strategic Investment

Rare Daily Staff

Photo: John Dawson, CEO of Oxford Biomedica

Gene and cell therapy developer Oxford Biomedica said that Novo Holdings has agreed to invest up to $67.5 million (£53.5 million) in the company in return for up to a 10.1 percent stake.

The proceeds from the transaction will be used to repay an existing debt facility with Oaktree Capital Management, further develop the company’s LentiVector platform, and advance the company’s product portfolio. 

The price per new ordinary share to be paid by Novo Holdings is equal to the closing market price on Friday, May 24, 2019.

Under the terms of the financing, Novo Holdings has agreed to subscribe for more than 6.5 million new ordinary shares in Oxford Biomedica at a price of $8.71 (£6.90) per share. The subscription agreement also provides an option for Novo Holdings to subscribe for up to nearly 1.9 million additional new ordinary shares in Oxford Biomedica at the subscription price by June 30, 2019. Exercise of the subscription option in full would increase Novo Holdings’ ownership to 10.1 percent of the company following the issuance of the subscription shares and the additional shares.

Oxford Biomedica is using its proprietary platform to both develop and commercialize its own gene and cell therapy programs while also pursuing the development of a proprietary product portfolio for later out-licensing. It has partnerships with Novartis and Sanofi, and outlicensed OXB-102, an experimental gene therapy for Parkinson’s disease to Axovant Gene Therapies.

 “Novo Holdings is a well-known and highly regarded long-term investor with significant expertise in working with innovative, life sciences businesses to unlock their growth potential,” said John Dawson, CEO of Oxford Biomedica. “This experience will be a great asset far beyond the financial commitment they have made to the Group and their collaboration and support will be highly valuable as we seek to scale up our operations both on the platform and on the proprietary product portfolio.”