Glythera Relocates to North East as Part of £2M Funding Round

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• Publié par: glythera
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Glythera Relocates to North East as Part of

£2M Funding Round

PR Newswire

NEWCASTLE, England, June 21, 2012

NEWCASTLE, England

,

June 21, 2012

/PRNewswire/ --

Glythera, an emerging biopharmaceutical company specialising in

protein/peptide functionalisation and glycosylation, has secured a fundraising

round totalling £2M with IP Group, which will be tranched over the next three

years.

The company, a spin-out from the University of Bath, has recently established

commercial operations at

Newcastle's

INEX incubator facility, following an initial

£600,000 investment split equally between IP Group and its managed fund, the

Finance for Business North East Technology Fund. The next two tranches will be

of a similar size and are contingent on certain milestones being met.

Glythera's relocation has led to the immediate creation of new research and

development positions in the North East of

England

including the appointment

of Dr David Simpson as Chief Operating Officer. David has over 15 years of

experience in the biopharmaceutical industry, having held senior technical,

managerial and leadership positions centred on the development and

manufacturing of biopharmaceutical products destined for worldwide approval.

Further growth is anticipated over the next three years in line with the

company's commercial and technical needs.

Dr Anthony Baxter, Glythera's Chairman, commented: "We are obviously

delighted to close this funding round in what remains a challenging

environment. Our ability to do this is testament to the strength of the Glythera

technology, combined with the leadership and technical skills of our team."

David added: "Relocating to the North East makes a lot of sense for us, due to

the region's strong pedigree in biomanufacturing, giving us the ideal base from

which to partner with leading companies and attract a skilled workforce."

Duncan Lowery, Senior Investment Manager at IP Group, commented: "As

David has mentioned, the North East has a real strength in biomanufacturing

and the fact that Glythera is relocating here demonstrates that the industry

continues to develop and expand apace. The technology being developed is

highly innovative and could transform the use of vaccines and therapeutics.

With a revolutionary product and extremely experienced management team,

we're confident that Glythera will hit its targets and continue to build a

reputation as a rising star within the pharmaceutical industry."

For more information about Glythera, visit http://www.glythera.com

For more information on the Finance for Business North East Technology Fund,

visit: http://www.thenortheasttechnologyfund.com.

About Glythera

Glythera Limited is a biotechnology company specialising in the development of

enhanced protein/peptide therapeutics through the use of advanced

glycosylation and conjugation technologies. Originally spun-out from the

University of Bath, the Company relocated to the Newcastle-upon-Tyne INEX

incubator facility in 2012, following investment from the IP Group and the

Finance for Business North East Technology Fund. Gylthera's core technologies

- Permalink and Permacarb - allow the selective and stable functionalisation

and glycosylation of biopharmaceuticals for improved stability, bioavailability

and efficacy.

About IP Group

IP Group is a leading UK intellectual property (IP) commercialisation company,

developing technology innovations primarily from its research intensive partner

universities. The Group offers more than traditional venture capital, providing

its companies with access to business building expertise, networks, recruitment

and business support.

The Company's portfolio comprises holdings in over 60 companies including

Oxford Nanopore Technologies, the DNA sequencing development company,

Revolymer, best known for its removable chewing gum and Xeros, which has

received many accolades for its revolutionary clothes washing techniques with

a much reduced requirement for water.

The portfolio includes early stage to mature businesses and has exposure to

five main sectors - Energy & Renewables, Medical Equipment & Supplies,

Pharma & Biotech, IT & Communications and Chemicals & Materials. To date,

fourteen of the portfolio companies IP Group has backed have listed on the AIM

market of the London Stock Exchange and one on PLUS Markets.

Founded in 2001, IP Group listed on AIM in

October 2003

and moved to the

Official List in

June 2006

. The Group now has long-term partnerships with

twelve universities including those under its commercialisation agreement with

Fusion IP plc.

For more information, please visit our website at http://www.ipgroupplc.com

About The North East Technology Fund

The North East Technology Fund is a £25m venture capital fund dedicated to

investing in technology businesses with outstanding potential which are based

in, or are willing to relocate to, the North East of

England

. The Fund is managed

by IP Group plc and is backed by the European Investment Bank and European

Regional Development Funds. It is able to co-invest with other institutional,

private or corporate investors and at all stages of the business cycle from early

stage to mature businesses. Its investment range is from £50,000 to £1.25m.

For more information, please visit http://www.thenortheasttechnologyfund.com.

About Finance for Business North East

Finance for Business North East is a £125m publicly-backed venture capital

fund. It will support up to 850 small and medium-sized companies in North East

England over the next five years, with the aim of creating more than 5,000

jobs.

The European Investment Bank is committing £62.5m into the fund with

£44.25m coming from the European Regional Development Fund 2007-2013.

North East Finance, based in

Newcastle

, manages the fund on a day-to-day

basis.

Finance for Business North East is part of the Government's Solutions for

Business portfolio of publicly funded help to companies to start, grow and

succeed. Solutions for Business makes it easier for companies to get the advice

and assistance that they need. More information on Solutions for Business can

be found at http://www.businesslink.gov.uk/solutions.

© 2012 kdm communications limited