Mercia participates in PsiOxus funding round

RNS REACH

19 May 2015

Mercia Technologies PLC

Mercia continues to support portfolio company PsiOxus in £25m Series C funding round

Mercia Technologies PLC (AIM: MERC, "Mercia"), a Midlands based leader in the funding and commercialisation of technology businesses in the UK, has taken part in a £25 million Series C funding round in portfolio company PsiOxus Therapeutics ('PsiOxus' or 'the Company'), which is developing innovative oncolytic immuno-oncology treatments for cancer. Mercia has committed £0.4 million to the round alongside current investors Invesco, SROne, Lundbeckfond and Imperial Innovations. In addition, one new investor, Woodford Patient Capital Trust, has joined the syndicate.

PsiOxus has now raised in aggregate more than £55 million from investors. PsiOxus will use the new funding to conduct a Phase I clinical study.

Mercia holds c. 2% of PsiOxus following this latest funding round.

Peter Dines, Investment Director, Life Sciences at Mercia Technologies PLC, said:

"We are delighted to support this legacy portfolio business, obtained through the acquisition of Mercia Fund 2, in the company of such seasoned Life Sciences investment professionals.

"PsiOxus is the result of an effective combination of technological expertise from the University of Birmingham and Imperial College, and we are delighted to maintain our association with the Company as it moves towards the next stage of its development."

Enquiries:

Note to editors

Mercia Technologies PLC

Mercia creates, funds and develops technology businesses nationally with an emphasis in the Midlands and the North of the UK. It brings technology transfer, company formation, incubation, commercialisation and investment, to technology ventures.

Mercia has a well seeded portfolio and pipeline of investments. The Group has a direct investment in 14 operating companies and access to a portfolio of 44 businesses through its third party funds, managed by its wholly owned subsidiary Mercia Fund Management.

Mercia's shares started trading on AIM on 18 December 2014.

About PsiOxus Therapeutics, Ltd.

PsiOxus Therapeutics is a UK-based development stage biotechnology company with a particular focus in immune therapeutics in oncology. PsiOxus has developed a patented platform for tumour-targeted delivery based on its oncolytic vaccine, enadenotucirev. Enadenotucirev's unique design allows it to be delivered systemically via intravenous administration. The anti-cancer scope of enadenotucirev can be expanded through "arming" - a process that involves addition of new genes into enadenotucirev.

The "Armed EnAd" platform makes possible creation of a broad range of unique oncolytic immune therapeutics, including oncolytic vaccines that express one or more antibodies (AbEnAd), cytokines or other immunomodulatory proteins, or nucleotide based payloads such as RNAi. The Armed EnAd platform is in preclinical stage, while phase I/II clinical trials are ongoing with the parent unarmed EnAd in different tumour types.