Touchstone Innovations ploughs £14m into Cell Medica

Touchstone Innovations announced on Thursday that it participated in a £60.0m funding round in Cell Medica, committing £13.7m to the round alongside co-investors Invesco Asset Management and Woodford Investment Management.

The AIM-traded firm described Cell Medica as a cellular therapeutics company engaged in the development, manufacturing and marketing of cellular immunotherapy products for the treatment of cancer.

It said cellular immunotherapy is a “novel” form of medical treatment which has the potential to transform the treatment of cancer in the years ahead.

Cell Medica is developing a range of cell-based immunotherapy products using three proprietary technology platforms including activated cytotoxic T cells, chimeric antigen receptors (CARs) and engineered T cell receptors (TCRs), Touchstone’s board explained.

The company's lead oncology product - CMD-003 - is an investigational therapy in which the patient's T cells are activated to kill malignant cells expressing EBV antigens.

Cell Medica’s product is being investigated in an international open label Phase II CITADEL clinical trial for patients with extranodal natural killer T cell lymphoma (ENKTCL), a type of non-Hodgkin lymphoma.

It also opened the Phase II CIVIC clinical trial to explore the potential benefits of CMD-003 for patients with EBV-positive diffuse large cell lymphoma (DLBCL), Hodgkin lymphoma, and post-transplant lymphoproliferative disease (PTLD).

As at 31 July 2016, Touchstone had a 25.5% interest in the issued share capital of Cell Medica with such interest having a net fair value of £28.5m.

Following the new investment Touchstone Innovations would hold a 24.5% stake in the issued share capital of the company.

“The use of human T cell subset as therapeutics has the potential to revolutionise the way cancer is treated and we are delighted to be supporting Cell Medica in this round,” commented Touchstone CEO Russ Cummings.

“Over the last six months or so Cell Medica has significantly broadened its product portfolio through striking new partnerships with Baylor College of Medicine and UCL, and through the acquisition of Delenex Therapeutics.

“The business now has a pipeline addressing both liquid and solid cancers and this new funding will put it in a great position to drive forward these development programmes.”