Company will use funding to advance programmes in multiple cancer indications

(Oxford, UK and Philadelphia, PA, 25 September 2014). Adaptimmune Limited, a leading biotechnology company focused on the use of T-cell therapy to treat cancer and infectious disease, today announced the completion of a $104 million Series A financing round.

The oversubscribed round was led by New Enterprise Associates (NEA), and additional new investors participating included OrbiMed Advisors LLC, Wellington Management Company, LLP, Fidelity Biosciences, Foresite Capital Management, Ridgeback Capital Management, Novo A/S, QVT, Rock Springs Capital, venBio Select and Merlin Nexus. Existing investors participating included the University of Oxford and others.

Adaptimmune plans to use the proceeds from the Series A financing to advance the company’s internal programmes into the clinic in multiple cancer indications.

Using its unique T-cell receptor (TCR) engineering technology, Adaptimmune has created TCRs which are deployed to target the cancer testis antigen, NY-ESO-1, as well as other targets. In June the company announced that it had entered into a strategic collaboration and licensing agreement with GlaxoSmithKline covering an option on the NY-ESO-1 clinical programme. Adaptimmune is currently running trials across the United States in multiple myeloma, melanoma, sarcoma and ovarian cancer.

Adaptimmune has also announced changes to its Board. David Mott, NEA General Partner and head of healthcare; Dr Ali Behbahani, a Partner in NEA’s healthcare team, and Dr Peter Thompson, a Private Equity Partner at OrbiMed, have been appointed as non-executive directors. They will serve alongside existing Chairman, Dr Jonathan Knowles, and Chief Executive Officer, James Noble. The Board is further strengthened by Dr Elliott Sigal, former Chief Scientific Officer and Executive Vice President of Bristol Myers-Squibb, who joins as an independent industry representative.

“We are delighted to secure this strong financial support from some of the most prestigious and highly regarded biotechnology investment groups in the US, led by NEA,” said James Noble. “Their commitment, and the perspective and experience of our new board members, will be invaluable as we build the company up and accelerate the development of our own pipeline of clinical programmes.”

“We are very pleased to be leading this round in Adaptimmune against a backdrop of increasing global interest in the immuno-oncology field”, said David Mott. “We look forward to working closely with the company to rapidly progress the development of its innovative research pipeline in TCR T-cell therapy, which offers an opportunity to bring potentially breakthrough cancer treatments to patients.”

Contact
Margaret Henry
Head of PR
Adaptimmune Ltd, UK
T: +44 (0)1235 430036
Mob: +44 (0)7710 304249
E: margaret.henry@adaptimmune.com

About Adaptimmune
Adaptimmune is focused on the use of T cell therapy with engineered T cell receptors to treat cancer and infectious disease. Established in July 2008 with a research base in Oxford, UK and a clinical base in Philadelphia, US, the company aims to utilise the body’s own machinery – the T cell – to target and destroy cancerous or infected cells by using engineered, increased affinity T cell receptor (TCRs) as a means of strengthening natural patient T cell responses. Adaptimmune undertakes all of its own research and development using proprietary T cell receptor engineering technology co-developed and co-owned with its sister company Immunocore Ltd (formerly Avidex/MediGene) but exclusively licensed for T cell therapy to Adaptimmune. The company is in the clinic in the US in multiple cancer indications with its engineered TCR to the NY-ESO-1/LAGE-1 cancer testis antigen. On 2nd June 2014, Adaptimmmune announced that it had entered into a strategic collaboration and licensing agreement with GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) for the development and commercialisation of the NYESO- 1 clinical cancer programme. For more information: http://www.adaptimmune.com