Syncona Limited (LSE:SYNC) said it has committed a £19mln investment to Quell Therapeutics, which specialises in developing engineered therapies for medical conditions driven by the immune system.
Following on from this £117mln Series B financing round, Syncona revalued its existing investment in Quell and this resulted in an £19mln uplift, or 3p per Syncona share.
Quell, which was founded by Syncona in 2019, has now raised £163mln of total funding to date.
On drawdown of the full Series B financing, Syncona's ownership stake in Quell will be 37%.
The proceeds are to be used to fund the continued early clinical development of its QEL-001 programme in liver transplantation, which is designed to protect the post-transplant liver without the need for chronic immunosuppressive medications.
The fundraising money is also anticipated to be used to advance Quell’s pipeline elsewhere in its core therapeutic areas of transplantation, neuroinflammatory diseases and autoimmune diseases.
Ian McGill, Quell chief executive, said, "We are proud to have the support of this premiere syndicate of investors as we drive forward to our next stage of growth.”