Silence Therapeutics PLC (AIM:SLN, NASDAQ:SLN, OTC:SLNCF) said healthcare-focused investment firm Frazier Life Sciences Public Fund purchased US$20mln existing ordinary shares and is now a 3% shareholder in the company.
The company, which is developing medicines harnessing the body’s natural mechanism of ribonucleic acid (RNA) interference, said Frazier Life Sciences has a track record of partnering with science-driven healthcare businesses.
The investment comes as Silence Therapeutics progresses two wholly owned clinical-stage programmes and rapidly expands its pre-clinical pipeline leveraging its mRNAi GOLD platform. This can be used to create siRNAs (short interfering RNAs) that precisely target and silence disease-associated genes in the liver.
Frazier Life Sciences managing partner Albert Cha said the firm “is excited for the prospects for Silence's RNA interference platform technology and the potential for the company's growth, given its promising pipeline and the noteworthy success other companies have demonstrated with RNA interference programs”.
Headquartered in Menlo Park, California, Frazier Life Sciences has raised over US$7.1bn in its three decades so far and invested in more than 200 companies.
After Silence Therapeutics shareholders recently approved plans to delist from AIM at the end of November, to focus on its Nasdaq listing, chief financial officer Craig Tooman said attracting institutional healthcare funds like Frazier was “a key objective” of the board’s decision.
“This is exactly what we envisioned, and we look forward to continuing to expand our global shareholder base,” he added.