Kings 1st Spin Out
IP2IPO Group PLC
03 March 2004
IP2IP0 Group plc
IP2IPO invests in neuroscience spin out from King's College
IP2IPO Group plc (AIM: IPO) ('IP2IPO') the intellectual property company that
specialises in commercialising university technology is pleased to announce that
it has made an investment in Proximagen Limited, a new spin out from King's
College London.
Proximagen will provide drug discovery services to pharmaceutical companies with
R&D programmes in Parkinson's disease and other neurodegenerative disorders.
Proximagen will also conduct proprietary drug discovery research into these
diseases.
The scientific founder of Proximagen is Professor Peter Jenner, one of the
World's leading authorities on neurodegenerative diseases. Professor Jenner has
over 500 publications to his name and has collaborated extensively with the
Pharmaceutical industry over the course of his 30-year career. He served as the
Director of the Parkinson's Disease Society Experimental Research Laboratories
for 10 years and is currently the Vice President of the European Society of
Clinical Pharmacology.
In return for its investment of seed capital, IP2IPO has acquired a 43.5% stake
in the Company, under the terms of its partnership with Kings College London.
Commenting on the formation of the new company, David Norwood, Chief Executive
of IP2IPO said, 'This is an extremely promising opportunity. Professor Jenner
has very impressive scientific credentials, an immensely dedicated team and a
superb reputation within the pharmaceutical industry. Kings College has had a
strong reputation for neuroscience research for many years and I am delighted
that this has lead to the creation of Proximagen'.
Professor Jenner, scientific founder of Proximagen, said, 'The formation of
Proximagen is the culmination of many years of successfully providing
sophisticated services to the pharmaceutical industry. I am absolutely delighted
to be able to take this work to the next level.'
Malcolm Sims, Managing Director of Kings College London Enterprises (the
University's technology transfer company) said, 'This is a very good outcome for
Kings College. Proximagen is a spin out of the highest quality and its creation
highlights the success of the Kings-IP2IPO partnership'.
For more information
IP2IPO (www.ip2ipo.com) 020 7071 4348
David Norwood, Chief Executive Officer
King's College London (www.kcl.ac.uk) 020 7848 6795
Dr Malcolm Sims, Managing Director, KCL Enterprises
Ltd.
Buchanan Communications 020 7466 5000
Tim Anderson, Mark Court, Mary-Jane Johnson
Notes to editors
IP2IPO
IP2IPO is an intellectual property (IP) company that specialises in
commercialising university technology. The Company has already formed four
long-term partnerships with UK universities and listed on AIM in October 2003.
IP2IPO's first such collaboration was with the University of Oxford. In return
for an investment of £20 million, IP2IPO has acquired 50 per cent of the
University of Oxford's equity in spin-out companies and technology licences
based on intellectual property created at the Chemistry Department until 2015.
In March 2002, IP2IPO Limited entered into a second long-term partnership with
the University of Southampton. Under the terms of this partnership, IP2IPO is
committed to working with the University of Southampton in the identification
and facilitation of spin-out companies from across the University of Southampton
and to investing £5 million in early-stage University of Southampton spin-out
companies over a four year period in return for equity stakes in those
companies. In addition, IP2IPO Limited also received a 20 per cent stake in
Southampton Asset Management Limited, a company that has been formed to hold the
University's equity stakes in its future spin-out companies. The partnership has
a term of at least 25 years.
IP2IPO Limited entered into its third long-term partnership in May 2003 with
King's College London. IP2IPO Limited will work with King's College London to
help identify and progress commercialisation opportunities as well as invest £5
million in King's College London's spin-out companies over a five year period in
return for equity stakes in those companies. In addition, IP2IPO Limited will
receive 20 per cent. of King's College London's equity in spin-out companies and
technology licenses. The partnership has an initial term of 25 years.
In October 2003, IP2IPO announced a fourth partnership with the Centre for Novel
Agricultural Products ('CNAP'), based at the University of York. CNAP is a
flagship research centre that specialises in plant and microbial gene discovery.
Under the terms of the partnership a new company, Amaethon Limited, has been
created which has the right to commercialise CNAP's IP for 25 years. IP2IPO
Limited has committed to invest £1.15m in Amaethon Limited in return for a one
third equity stake in Amaethon Limited (the remaining equity being owned by the
University of York) and will also invest in the spin out companies based on
CNAP's IP which Amaethon Limited creates.
King's College London
King's is one of the oldest and largest colleges of the University of London
with some 13,800 undergraduate students and some 5,300 postgraduates in ten
schools of study. The College had 24 of its subject-areas awarded the highest
rating of 5* and 5 for research quality, demonstrating excellence at an
international level. King's is in the top group of five universities for
research earnings with income from grants and contracts of more than £93 million
(2002-2003) and has an annual turnover of £320 million. King's is a member of
the Russell Group, a coalition of the UK's major research-based universities.
This information is provided by RNS
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