Acquisition

4D pharma plc

(the "Company" or "4D pharma")

Acquisition

4D pharma plc (AIM: DDDD), a pharmaceutical company focusing on the development of live biotherapeutics, is pleased to announce that it has today acquired the entire issued share capital of Tucana Health Limited ("Tucana").

Recent advances have highlighted the importance of the microbiome, not only for the development of safe and efficacious novel therapeutics, such as those developed by 4D pharma currently undergoing patient trials, but also in predicting the effectiveness or response rates of current therapeutics in areas such as cancer.

Tucana, a start-up company from University College Cork ("UCC"), was founded by Prof Fergus Shanahan and Prof Paul O'Toole to investigate the use of microbiome signatures to aid the diagnosis and treatment of diseases, including those targeted by 4D pharma.

Following the acquisition, 4D pharma will continue to build on this research, investing in the platform and building further research capability based at the APC Microbiome Institute at UCC ("APC").

Initially, the focus will be on work on the diagnosis and patient stratification for Irritable Bowel Syndrome ("IBS"). Longer term the company will focus on building a diagnostic platform across multiple disease areas mirroring the programmes developed by MicroRx, 4D pharma's therapeutic platform. This work will be led by Prof Fergus Shanahan and Prof Paul O'Toole, the founders of Tucana.

Duncan Peyton, 4D pharma's Chief Executive Officer, commented:

"We continue to look at the developments within the microbiome and how best to apply these to enable 4D pharma to rapidly bring safe, efficacious therapies to patients. 

Having worked with the founders of Tucana and the APC, it was clear that together we combine the expertise and research at Tucana with 4D pharma's MicroRx platform, research and therapeutic programmes to build what we believe will be a new direction in diagnostics. 

We believe the diagnostic platform developed will become an important part of patient care, giving health professionals an understanding of how, or more importantly whether, a patient will respond to a therapeutic regime; but also expanding the information within 4D pharma to understand and potentially address new therapeutic areas."

The consideration will be satisfied by the issue of up to 1,410,603 4D pharma shares, with 410,603 shares to be issued upfront at a price of £7.55, being the average mid-market price of a 4D pharma share for the five business days immediately preceding completion of the acquisition. The remaining consideration shares will be issued subject to the achievement of milestones.

Application has been made for the new 4D pharma shares issued on completion of the acquisition to be admitted to trading on AIM ("Admission"), and it is expected that Admission will take place on 15 February 2016.

Following Admission, the Company's issued share capital will consist of 64,775,801 ordinary shares. There are no ordinary shares held in treasury. Therefore, in accordance with the FCA's Disclosure and Transparency Rule 5.6.1, the Company confirms that, following Admission, the total number of voting rights in the Company will be 64,775,801.

Exchange rate used: £1 : €1.29

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About 4D pharma

Founded in February 2014, 4D pharma is a world leader in the development of live biotherapeutics, a novel and emerging class of drugs, defined by the FDA as biological products that contain a live organism, such as a bacteria, that is applicable to the prevention, treatment or cure of a disease. 4D pharma has developed a proprietary platform, MicroRx, that rationally identifies novel bacteria that have a precise and evolved therapeutic effect. All of 4D pharma's live biotherapeutic products are orally delivered single strains of bacteria that are naturally found in the healthy human gut. 4D pharma currently has a pipeline of 13 development programmes, including disease areas such as rheumatoid arthritis, multiple sclerosis and cancer, and is currently conducting patient trials in IBS and Paediatric Crohn's. The programmes in Paediatric Colitis and Paediatric Crohn's have both been granted Orphan Drug Status by the FDA.

About the APC Microbiome Institute

The APC (http://apc.ucc.ie), formed over a decade ago, is a partnership between UCC and Teagasc, the agriculture and food development authority of Ireland, with more than 150 scientists and clinicians working on the human microbiome - the vast collection of microbes living in and on the human body which is now known to play an important role in human health. The microbiome is not only a target for diagnosis, treatment and prevention of disease, it is a repository for functional food ingredients, new drugs and biomarkers of disease. Over the past decade APC scientists have related food and microbial diversity with health, have discovered new anti-microbials and anti-inflammatories, and have developed templates for future foods. The APC is funded by Science Foundation Ireland (SFI) and by funding from national and global partner companies.

About IBS

IBS is a functional bowel disorder characterised by discomfort, pain and changes in bowel habits. Symptoms can be mild, moderate or severe. Mild symptoms, which occur infrequently, can sometimes interfere with normal daily functioning. Moderate symptoms are more intense, occur more frequently, and often interfere with daily functioning. Severe symptoms chronically interfere with daily functioning. It is estimated that 10-15% of the population have IBS, with only 30-35% of patients seeking medical attention, the majority of which have persistent symptoms. There are currently few approved treatment options, all of which focus on the modulation of symptoms.