UK-based gene therapy developer Orchard Therapeutics raised an oversubscribed $150m series C round. The transaction featured medical marketing group Medison – which participated through its strategic investment vehicle Medison Ventures – as well as healthcare management services provider Sphera Global Health Care. The round was led by Deerfield Management, which co-invested along with other traditional VC and financial investors.
This is not the first time the company gets under the radar of corporate, university or government investors. Earlier this year, pharmaceutical firm GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) acquired a 19.9% stake in it as part of an agreement to license a portfolio of gene therapies to the company. Previously, Orchard had raised a $110m series B round in December 2017 that included UCL Technology Fund, an investment vehicle established by UCL to back its spinouts, and Singapore state-owned investment firm Temasek.
Spun out of University College London (UCL), Orchard Therapeutics develops gene therapies for rare, potentially fatal diseases such as adenosine deaminase severe combined immunodeficiency (Ada-Scid), an inherited disorder that compromises the immune system. Its therapy consists of reengineering stem cells taken from Ada-Scid patients and reinserting corrected cells into their bodies. Its lead product candidates also include treatments for immune disorder Wiskott–Aldrich syndrome and a lysosomal storage disease called metachromatic leukodystrophy. The capital raised will be used to advance clinical programs to commercialisation.
Genetics and related technologies in medicine, such gene therapy have drawn the attention of corporate venturers over the past years, as the GCV Analytics bar chart shows. Corporate-backed investments in such rounds peaked in 2015, when we reported 42 deals in which an estimated total of $1.77bn were raised. However, both deal count and dollar figures have been going down ever since. It appears that 2018 – with its 12 deals and $1.43bn of capital raised in them – may be able to reverse that trend.
