The stem cell therapy developer ReNeuron raised €96M to conduct further clinical trials of its pipeline, and more specifically to pursue potential stroke, eye disease, and cancer treatments. The financial placement is supported by the already major shareholder Woodford Investment Management, allowing the latter to possess more than one-third of the company shares.
ReNeuron, a UK-based stem cell therapy company, develops ‘off the shelf’-treatments, that make additional immunosuppressive therapeutics no longer necessary. Thanks to conditional placing, the company raised €96M (£68.4M) to carry on with its recent progress. The sum represents the largest amount of money invested in a cell therapy company this year, according to ReNeuron, and should serve to propel its cell therapy R&D until the first half of 2019.
ReNeuron is especially optimistic about its Phase II/III stroke programme as well as its Phase I/II retinitis pigmentosa project, a potential treatment for patients suffering from this blindness-causing disease. Best case scenario, ReNeuron could make it to the market authorization application stage within the financed period. The fundraising will also serve to exploit ReNeuron’s exosome nanomedicine therapeutic platform. Sufficient clinical data could lead to high-value partnering deals, at least that’s what company is hoping for.
Amongst the investors of the current fundraising is Woodford, one of the most influential biotech investors in Europe, raising his percentage shareholdings from 26.2 to 35.5%. He seems to have quite a nose for projects that cash out, according to the Guardian, Neil Woodford remains “the best performer in the UK equity income sector”. His support certainly underlines ReNeuron’s leading position in the field of stem cell therapy in the UK.