Portfolio company announces six licensing deals

RNS Number : 3420R

Mercia Technologies PLC

28 February 2019

 

RNS Reach

28 February 2019

Mercia Technologies PLC

("Mercia")

Portfolio company Oxford Genetics, announces six licensing deals

Mercia Technologies PLC (AIM: MERC), the national investment group focused on the identification, creation, funding and scaling of innovative technology businesses with high growth potential from the UK regions, today announces that its portfolio company, Oxford Genetics Limited ("Oxford Genetics"), has successfully negotiated six licensing deals for its scalable gene therapy manufacturing technologies in the last twelve months.

Oxford Genetics operates in the synthetic biology sector providing world leading technologies and advanced techniques for drug and gene therapy development. Grown from the foundations of patented DNA engineering methods, the company now offers a suite of novel solutions for gene therapy drug discovery, antibody therapy development and CRISPR gene editing.

The past year has seen Oxford Genetics achieve significant market traction, working extensively with high profile, global businesses within the biotechnology industry. The projects being undertaken have strengthened the portfolio of solutions and licensable technologies in the key areas of drug and gene therapy development services.

Projects of note include;

·   A licence agreement with Aldevron, a leading US service provider, to bring to market the Lentiviral Plasmids created by Oxford Genetics.

·   A collaboration project with Sphere Fluidics to expedite the development of automated microfluidic systems for rapid and high-throughput gene editing in mammalian cells.

The remaining project wins are confidential licensing arrangements with large pharmaceutical companies, where Oxford Genetics is providing its proprietary cell lines and viral vectors for the discovery and development of viral therapies.

Mercia holds a 40.5% direct equity stake in the business and has worked with the team at Oxford Genetics since 2012, originally via its managed funds before making its first balance sheet investment to scale the business in December 2015.

Ryan Cawood, Founder and CEO of Oxford Genetics, said: "2018 was an outstanding year for our business and we are expecting to close our financial year to 30 April 2019 showing 300% revenue growth on the prior year.  We also have a strong order book for 2019/20. Our customer base is shaping up to be an impressive collection of long-term partners and in addition, our increasing global reach is enabling us to further demonstrate our technical excellence and clear market differentiation."

Dr Mark Payton, Chief Executive Officer of Mercia Technologies PLC and a non-executive director of Oxford Genetics, said: "The global biotechnology market will surpass $775billion by 2024 according to a report by Global Market Insights. Today's announcement is further evidence of the considerable progress which Ryan and his team at Oxford Genetics have made. The steady march of new biologic-based treatments in development and on the market means that the industry is crying out for the disruptive technologies and expertise that Oxford Genetics has developed in strength and depth. We expect further strong revenue growth and further licence announcements in due course."

For further information, please contact:

Mercia Technologies PLC	[phone]
Mark Payton, Chief Executive Officer
Martin Glanfield, Chief Financial Officer
www.merciatech.co.uk
Canaccord Genuity Limited	[phone]
Simon Bridges, Emma Gabriel (NOMAD and Broker)
Buchanan	[phone]
Bobby Morse, Chris Lane, Vicky Hayns, Stephanie Watson
www.buchanan.uk.com

About Mercia Technologies PLC

Mercia is a national investment group focused on the funding and scaling of innovative technology businesses with high growth potential from the UK regions. The Group benefits from 19 university partnerships and offices across the Midlands, the North of England and Scotland providing it with access to high quality, regional deal flow. Mercia Technologies PLC is quoted on AIM with the epic "MERC".

 Mercia's 'Complete Capital Solution' initially nurtures businesses via its third-party funds (now with circa £400million under management) and then over time Mercia can provide further funding to the most promising companies, by deploying direct investment follow-on capital from its own balance sheet. Since its IPO in December 2014, Mercia has invested over £74million across its direct investment portfolio.

About Oxford Genetics

Oxford Genetics operates in the synthetic biology sector providing world leading technologies and advanced techniques for drug and gene therapy development.  Grown from the foundations of patented DNA engineering methods, the company now offers a suite of novel solutions for gene therapy drug discovery, antibody therapy development and CRISPR gene editing.

 

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