IP Group's Enterprise Therapeutics to raise £29m

IP Group said on Thursday that its portfolio company, Enterprise Therapeutics, has announced a £29m fundraising.

Enterprise Therapeutics, which entered the IP Group portfolio following the combination with Touchstone Innovations, is developing muco-regulatory therapies to treat patients with respiratory diseases of high unmet medical need, where mucus obstruction reduces lung function, leading to difficulty in breathing and recurrent lung infections.

The oversubscribed financing was co-led by Versant Ventures and Novartis Venture Fund with funding from new investor Forbion and existing shareholders Epidarex Capital and IP Group.

IP has committed to invest £4.7m of the round, which is tranched and subject to the achievement of certain milestones. It has invested £2.5m in the first tranche of the fundraising.

The investment will fund Enterprise's drug discovery pipeline of muco-regulatory therapies into clinical development.

At 1245 BST, IP shares were up 2.1% to 129.60p.