Imperial Innovations Group Regulatory News (IVO)

29 Jan 2007 07:01

Imperial Innovations Group plc29 January 2007 Imperial Innovations Group plc ("Imperial Innovations") Investment in Circassia Imperial Innovations Group plc (AIM: IVO), the technology transfer andcommercialisation company, today announces that it has invested £2 million inimmunotherapy company Circassia Holdings Limited ("Circassia") to develop itsallergy vaccine further. The investment in Circassia, is part of a £6 millionfunding round that included Landsdowne Partners and Tudor Capital and is thefirst such funding round led by Imperial Innovations. Circassia was established by Imperial Innovations in 1998 to commercialiseresearch on Allergic Rhinitis conducted by Professor Barry Kay and ProfessorMark Larche of the Faculty of Medicine at Imperial College London. Its PeptideAntigen Desensitisation ("PAD") technology offers the opportunity to produce arange of safe and effective allergy treatments in a substantial but poorlyserved market. Allergic rhinitis and asthma together affect an estimated 30% of the populationof Western industrialised countries and give rise to estimated expenditure ondrugs in excess of US$12 billion globally (source: Datamonitor). In up to 85% ofcases of asthma common allergens have been implicated as the cause. Most traditional immunotherapy approaches use the whole allergen in formulatingthe vaccination, which is a high-risk approach that can lead to seriousside-effects. In contrast, Circassia's PAD technology involves the selection ofshort synthetic peptides derived from the whole allergen. This allows for thetreatment of high-prevalence allergic diseases with substantially improvedsafety and efficacy addressing the underlying cause of the disease. The investment will be used to develop the PAD technology further, by completingPhase II and preparing for Phase III for the treatment of cat allergies and byinitiating Phase II studies for the treatment of subjects allergic to ragweed,dust-mite and grass. The company is managed by a highly experienced team with a track record inbuilding profitable businesses; Charles Swingland (Chairman) and Steve Harris(CEO) were instrumental in the IPO of Powderject and its subsequent £600m saleto Chiron. More recently they were part of the team who sold Zeneus Pharma forUS$360 million to Cephalon Inc. Russ Cummings, Chief Investment Officer atImperial Innovations has also joined the board of Circassia. Susan Searle, CEO of Imperial Innovations, said, "Circassia has been the ideal company to invest in by means of the first fundinground we have led. Its superior innovative technology and high-calibremanagement team presented us with the perfect opportunity to provide investorsaccess to the exciting growth prospects inherent in the world-class researchcarried out at Imperial College. " Charles Swingland, Chairman of Circassia, said, "We are pleased to have completed this investment round, which enables us toaccelerate the development of our technology. The Investment Team at ImperialInnovations have been excellent partners and have helped us bring together anexceptional syndicate smoothly and quickly." -Ends- For more information contact: Imperial InnovationsSusan Searle, Chief Executive Officer +44 (0)20 7594 6591Lucy Ahfong, Marketing Communications Executive +44 (0)20 7594 6644 Circassia Holdings LimitedCharles Swingland, Executive Chairman +44 (0)20 7594 1321Steven Harris, Chief Executive Officer +44 (0)20 7594 1306 M:Communications +44 (0)20 7153 1539Patrick d'Ancona / Eleanor Williamson Notes to Editors About Imperial Innovations Imperial Innovations is one of the UK's leading technology transfer andcommercialisation companies. The company was founded in 1986 and its ordinaryshares admitted to trading on the AIM Market of London Stock Exchange plc inJuly 2006, raising £26 million. The company's integrated approach encompassesthe identification of ideas, protection of intellectual property, developmentand licensing of technology and formation, incubation and investment intechnology businesses. A wide range of technologies are commercialised withinthe areas of healthcare, energy, environment and emerging technology trends. Based at Imperial College London, the company has established equity holdings in66 technology businesses and has completed 90 commercial agreements. ImperialInnovations also commercialises technologies originating from outside ImperialCollege through incubation contracts with the Carbon Trust and WRAP and hasrelationships with a number of multinational corporations including BAE Systems. Imperial Innovations has invested in a range of spin-out companies, includingThe Acrobot Company Limited, Cardiak Limited, deltaDOT Limited, Equinox PharmaLimited, Future Waves PTE Limited, HeliSwirl Technologies Limited, InforSenseLimited, Lontra Limited, Midaz Lasers Limited, NanoBioDesign Limited, NexeonLimited, NovaThera Limited, Thiakis Limited and Veryan Medical Limited. Imperial Innovations currently holds shares in four technology businesses nowlisted on AIM including the fuel cell company, Ceres Power plc. www.imperialinnovations.co.uk About Circassia Circassia is developing allergy immunotherapy technology called Peptide AntigenDesensitisation ("PAD"). This technology has demonstrated that it is safe andhas the capacity to cure allergies rather than simply to reduce the symptoms ofallergies. The technology has been validated in man in a number of clinicalstudies and has broad application across a range of allergies. It has thepotential to give improved efficacy without the safety issues of currentapproaches to desensitisation. The Company has built a strong intellectual property portfolio with multiplelayers of protection covering this novel approach. Manufacturing isstraightforward the company has proven GMP manufacture already established. PAD involves the selection of short synthetic peptides for the treatment of arange of high prevalence allergic diseases rather than using the whole allergenwhich characterize other approaches. PAD technology offers the opportunity toproduce a range of safe and effective allergy treatments in a substantial butpoorly served market. This information is provided by RNS The company news service from the London Stock Exchange