NanoSyrinx
NanoSyrinx nanosyringe technology
NanoSyrinx, a synthetic biology company developing nanosyringes as a novel platform for targeted intracellular delivery of biologic therapeutics, has announced that it has closed a 10 million GBP (13 million USD) financing round.
The funding will support further advancement of the company’s technology platform to accelerate the development of biologic therapeutics against a pipeline of previously ‘undruggable’ intracellular targets. The company also announced the appointment of Dr. Edwin Moses as Chairman of the Board of Directors.
The round was co-led by BGF, Octopus Ventures and M Ventures, with support from existing investors, IQ Capital and Meltwind. Global medicines company Eli Lilly also participated. The funding will be used to drive further development of NanoSyrinx’s technology platform, to realise its potential in advancing intracellular medicine. The platform is based around naturally occurring ‘nanosyringes’ which are engineered to selectively deliver peptide and protein payloads, including functional gene editors and a range of other enzymes, directly to the cytosol of targeted cells.
Alongside the financing, Edwin Moses has joined as NanoSyrinx’s Chairman, taking over from Stephen Taylor who has led the Board since the company’s inception. According to the company, Edwin is a renowned entrepreneur and C-level executive in the life sciences industry, bringing over 30 years of Board-level experience from over 20 life science companies.
Currently Chairman of Achilles Therapeutics plc, LabGenius Ltd and Avantium NV, Moses has a track record building and scaling biotech platform companies, achieving successful exits and raising over 700 million EUR in equity and debt financing to date. Previously, Moses was CEO of Ablynx NV until its agreed takeover by Sanofi for 4.8 billion USD in 2018, and CEO of Oxford Asymmetry International plc prior to its sale to Evotec for 316 million GBP.
He led both companies’ successful IPOs on the London Stock Exchange, EuroNext and NASDAQ. NanoSyrinx says his appointment as Chairman of the Board of Directors will help support the executive team in maximising value from the company’s nanosyringe platform, through a combination of in-house pipeline development and strategic commercial partnerships.
NanoSyrinx
Dr. Edwin Moses
Dr. Joe Healey, Chief Executive Officer, NanoSyrinx said: “Edwin has significant experience as a successful CEO and Chairman, with extensive involvement in biotech fundraising, strategic commercial partnerships and successful exits. We are thrilled to have him joining as Chair of our Board as we drive forward with our ambitious plans. He joins us at a pivotal stage alongside this financing, which places us in a well-capitalised position to further develop our intracellular drug delivery technology to realise its full potential in developing medicines. We would like to thank Steve for all his help over the years, and recognise the instrumental part he has played in getting the company to where it is today.”
Dr. Moses added: “NanoSyrinx’s technology promises to make a tremendous positive difference to the very challenging problem of intracellular delivery of therapeutics. I am delighted to join the Board and help build on the momentum of this latest fundraise, to support the Company and its leadership team in the further development of this unique platform which has the potential to create enormous value and make a real difference to patients’ lives.”
Lucy Edwardes Jones, Investor at BGF said: “While huge advances have been made in the field of biologic therapies, the delivery challenge remains a key bottleneck. We are excited by the potential of NanoSyrinx’s unique technology to unlock this, enabling promising new drugs to reach previously inaccessible disease targets in the body. We are looking forward to working closely with Edwin, the team and our co-investors to see this exciting technology through to impact.”