Imperial Innovations in £17m round for Cell Medica

Imperial committed £3m, which brings its shareholding to 28%, while asset manager Invesco Perpetual invested £4m, subject to milestones. The Cancer Prevention and Research Institute of Texas (CPRIT) provided £9.7m. Additionally, UK-based charitable foundation The Wellcome Trust took a stake in the company through a debt-for-equity swap.

The round is intended to support Cell Medica's immune reconstitution cell therapies in Europe and to launch new operations in the US. More specifically, CPRIT's funding has been provided for the US-based clinical development of Cytorex EBV, a therapy for cancers linked to the Epstein-Barr virus.

Previous funding
Imperial initially provided £380,000 in seed funding for Cell Medica in 2007, aiming to commercialise technology deriving from Imperial College London. A total of £1.9m was provided in the round, which included retail investors and the Wellcome Trust.

In September 2009, it provided a further £1.16m in a £1.95m round, including retail investors. By that time, a total of £4.5m of equity and convertible debt had been raised.

Company
Cell Medica, founded in 2007 as a university spinout, develops, manufactures, markets and distributes cell-based products for immune reconstitution and cancer treatment. Its Cytovir product family targets prevention and treatment of infections caused by viruses in immunosuppressed patients, while Cytorex products aim to target cancers associated with viruses.

People
Susan Searle is CEO of Imperial. Former transplant physician Thomas Hecht has been brought in as chairman for Cell Medica.

• Tweet  
• Facebook  
• LinkedIn  
• Google plus  
• Send to  

• Topics
• Expansion
• Healthcare
• UK / Ireland
• Now researching
• United Kingdom
• Debt-for-equity swap