LONDON, April 2, 2019 /PRNewswire/ --
THIS ANNOUNCEMENT CONTAINS INSIDE
INFORMATION WITHIN THE MEANING OF THE EU MARKET ABUSE REGULATION
NO.596/2014
- Arix's total interest in Aura increases to
£8.5 million from £3.9
million
- Arix commits $4.5
million (£3.4
million[1]) to increase its
stake to 7.7%
- Proceeds to be used to support late stage clinical
development; Phase 3 trial expected to start in H1
2020
Arix Bioscience plc ("Arix") (LSE: ARIX) a global venture
capital company focused on investing and building breakthrough
biotech companies, today announces that it has committed
$4.5 million (£3.4
million[1]) to the $40 million (£31 million) Series D financing
("the financing") of Aura Biosciences ("Aura"), a leader in the
development of novel targeted therapies in ocular oncology.
Following this commitment, Arix increases its stake to 7.7% on a
fully diluted basis. Arix Investment Director Mark Chin will continue to serve on the Aura
Board. The financing recognised a 33% uplift in the book value of
Arix's Series C investment in Aura, with Arix's total interest in
Aura increasing to £8.5 million from £3.9 million on a fully
committed basis.
Aura plans to use the proceeds from the Series D to support the
late stage clinical development of its lead asset, light-activated
AU-011, for the treatment of primary choroidal melanoma. The
currently available treatments for choroidal melanoma come with the
risk of severe vision loss and other long-term sequelae, especially
for patients with melanomas located close to the fovea or optic
disk. The ongoing Phase 1b/2
study with light-activated AU-011 has shown that the drug was
well-tolerated, with clear evidence of tumor control and
preservation of visual acuity at long term follow up, even in high
risk patients. Aura has been granted Orphan Drug and Fast Track
status from the U.S. Food & Drug Administration (FDA) and
expects to initiate a registration trial in 2020.
Medicxi served as the lead new investor. In addition to Arix,
Aura's existing investors Lundbeckfonden Ventures, Advent Life
Sciences, Chiesi Ventures, Ysios Capital, Alexandria Venture
Investments, Columbus Venture Partners, LI-COR Biosciences and
several individual investors, including the estate of Henri Termeer, participated in the
financing.
Joe Anderson, Chief Executive
Officer of Arix, commented:
"Aura has made significant clinical progress with its lead
candidate in development for primary choroidal melanoma, a rare and
aggressive eye cancer, and is preparing for a Phase 3 study. We
look forward to working alongside the world class management team
and new and existing investors to accelerate development of this
potential new treatment."
Elisabet de los Pinos, Ph.D.,
Chief Executive Officer of Aura, commented:
"The additional funding provided by this Series D financing enables
Aura to continue to execute on our goals of developing the first
targeted treatment for patients with primary choroidal melanoma, a
life and vision threatening rare disease with no drugs approved. We
are delighted to have the continued support from Arix, and our new
and existing investors, as we enter this next stage of growth for
the Company."
About Arix Bioscience plc
Arix Bioscience plc is a global venture capital company focused
on investing in and building breakthrough biotech companies around
cutting edge advances in life sciences.
We collaborate with exceptional entrepreneurs and provide the
capital, expertise and global networks to help accelerate their
ideas into important new treatments for patients. As a listed
company, we are able to bring this exciting growth phase of our
industry to a broader range of investors.
http://www.arixbioscience.com
About Aura Biosciences
Aura Biosciences is developing a new class of therapies to
selectively target and destroy cancer cells. Its lead program,
AU-011 in primary choroidal melanoma, is being developed under a
CRADA with the National Cancer Institute (NCI), part of the
National Institutes of Health. For more information, visit
http://www.aurabiosciences.com.
About Choroidal Melanoma
Choroidal melanoma is a rare and aggressive type of eye cancer.
Choroidal melanoma is the most common primary intraocular tumor in
adults and develops in the uveal tract of the eye. No targeted
therapies are available at present, and current radiotherapy
treatments can be associated with severe visual loss and other
long-term sequelae such as dry eye, glaucoma, cataracts and
radiation retinopathy. The most common current treatment is plaque
radiotherapy, which involves surgical placement of a radiation
device on the exterior of the eye over the tumor. The alternative
is enucleation, or total surgical removal of the eye. Choroidal
melanoma metastasizes in approximately 50 percent of cases with
liver involvement in 80-90% of cases and, unfortunately, metastatic
disease is universally fatal (source: OMF). There is a very high
unmet need for a new vision sparing targeted therapy that could
enable early treatment intervention for this life-threatening rare
disease given the lack of approved therapies, and the comorbidities
of radioactive treatment options.
About Light-Activated AU-011
AU-011 is a first-in-class targeted therapy in development for
the primary treatment of choroidal melanoma. The therapy consists
of proprietary viral-like particle bioconjugates (VPB) that are
activated with an ophthalmic laser. The VPBs bind selectively to
unique receptors on cancer cells in the eye and are derived from
technology originally pioneered by Dr. John
Schiller of the Center for Cancer Research at the National
Cancer Institute (NCI), recipient of the 2017 Lasker-DeBakey Award.
Upon activation with an ophthalmic laser, the drug rapidly and
specifically disrupts the cell membrane of tumor cells while
sparing key eye structures, which may allow for the potential of
preserving patients' vision and reducing other long-term
complications of radiation treatment. AU-011 can be delivered using
equipment commonly found in an ophthalmologist's office and does
not require a surgical procedure, pointing to a potentially less
invasive, more convenient therapy for patients and physicians.
AU-011 for the treatment of choroidal melanoma has been granted
orphan drug and fast track designations by the U.S. Food and Drug
Administration and is currently in clinical development.
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[1] All amounts shown are at an exchange rate of
GBP 1.00 : USD
1.31