Biopharma Business

Arix Biosciences has made good on its promise to raise £100 million ($127 million) in its public offering on the London Stock Exchange as it looks to put the new funds to use in investments across as many as 15 early-stage biotechs.

The firm has some key names coming out of its investments, including Woodford Investment Management, UCB and Takeda’s venture arm, as well as links to U.K. life sciences entrepreneur Sir Chris Evans, founder of Excalibur Group and Arix’s deputy chairman. It raised £50 million last year and invested in five biotech companies.

The London-based company is designed to funnel scientific discoveries and investment opportunities from around the world to a team of biotech, VC and Big Pharma veterans for evaluation.

With its new funds, it hopes to boost its investment work and typically put in money at an earlier stage in the drug development process, which includes biotechs and life science work coming out of academia.

Joe Anderson, Ph.D., CEO of Arix Bioscience, said in a statement: “We are really pleased to see such strong demand for our IPO from a broad range of investors in this oversubscribed offering. This is a vote of confidence for the life-science sector.

“We have a highly experienced international team and this new capital enables us to continue our commitment to supporting businesses in the vanguard of medical innovation, with the ultimate goal of improving outcomes for patients and unlocking value for investors.

“The IPO has received broad support from respected groups, including large institutional investors, pension funds, family offices, wealth managers and global pharmaceutical companies. The intermediaries offer was also strongly supported by retail investors. We believe this demonstrates the growing appeal of this opportunity to convert promising science into important new medicines.”

Written by Ben Adams