Arix Bioscience leads $45M financing round

RNS Number : 3506J

Arix Bioscience Plc

28 June 2017

 

Arix Bioscience leads $45 million Series B financing round into LogicBio Therapeutics

 Funding to advance gene therapies targeting orphan paediatric disorders through clinical trials

LONDON, 28 June, 2017: Arix Bioscience plc (LSE: ARIX) ("Arix Bioscience" or the "Company"), a global healthcare and life science company supporting medical innovation, today announces that it has led an oversubscribed Series B financing round raising $45 million for LogicBio Therapeutics Inc. ("LogicBio"), a new Arix Group Business focused on breakthrough, disease-modifying gene therapies for orphan paediatric diseases.

The fundraising led by Arix Bioscience included new investors OrbiMed, Edmond De Rothschild Investment Partners, Pontifax, and SBI, along with previous investors OrbiMed Israel Partners. As part of the financing, Arix Bioscience's Investment Manager, Daniel O'Connell, MD, PhD, will join LogicBio's Board of Directors.

Including the Series B financing announced today, LogicBio has raised a total of approximately $50 million in financing to date. Proceeds of the Series B financing will be used to complete pre-clinical development and advance the company's lead programmes into clinical studies.

Cambridge, MA-based LogicBio is a breakthrough gene therapy company targeting lifelong cures for serious, early-onset rare diseases by combining the best of gene therapy and gene editing in a one-time treatment. The company was founded with core platform technologies discovered by Dr Adi Barzel, Tel Aviv University, Dr Leszek Lisowski, Children's Medical Research Institute, Australia, and Professor Mark Kay at Stanford University School of Medicine.

The first platform, GeneRide™, is a technology that uses homologous recombination to enable precise, site-specific transfer of therapeutic genetic material without the use of promoters or nucleases. The company also has access to a library of synthetic, non-pathogenic, recombinant adeno-associated viral (rAAV) vectors developed at Stanford that allows for better predictability of vector performance in clinical trials.

Joe Anderson, Chief Executive Officer of Arix Bioscience plc, commented: "Early intervention for rare genetic disorders in children is important and LogicBio is uniquely positioned at the forefront of this research area with its proprietary genetic therapy technology to deliver a durable cure for young patients with life-threatening genetic diseases and otherwise limited options. LogicBio has huge potential and, alongside its excellent team and investors, we look forward to supporting the company to achieve continued success in this area."

For more information, please contact:

Arix Bioscience plc

Joe Anderson, CEO

[phone]

Consilium Strategic Communications

Mary-Jane Elliott, Jessica Hodgson, Ivar Milligan

[phone]

[e-mail]

About Arix Bioscience plc

Arix Bioscience plc is a global healthcare and life science company supporting medical innovation. Headquartered in London and with an office in New York, Arix Bioscience sources, finances and builds world class healthcare and life science businesses addressing medical innovation at all stages of development. Operations are supported by privileged access to breakthrough academic science and strategic relationships with leading research accelerators and global pharmaceutical companies.

Arix Bioscience plc is listed on the Main Market of the London Stock Exchange.

For further information, please visit www.arixbioscience.com

About LogicBio Therapeutics

A preclinical-stage gene-therapy company with a mission to develop cures for life-threatening diseases, LogicBio combines the best of gene therapy and genome editing. Founded by pioneers in gene therapy from leading academic institutions including Stanford University, Tel Aviv University, and Children's Medical Research Institute in Australia, LogicBio's core platform includes synthetic gene-therapy vectors derived from naturally occurring human adeno-associated viruses and the GeneRide technology. LogicBio designed its approach to harness the natural power of homologous recombination enabling precise, site-specific transfer of the genetic material without the use of promoters or nucleases. The goal: repairing the faulty genetic sequence causing the disorder to deliver a cure. LogicBio is advancing programs targeting rare, life-threatening paediatric genetic diseases of the liver, where there are few, if any, treatment options. A number of the company's discoveries have been featured in leading science publications and conferences. A private company, LogicBio is based in Cambridge, Massachusetts, with additional science teams working in Tel Aviv.

 

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