Oxford spin out OMass raises £75million in financing round

Published by

Stephen Emerson

Oxford biotechnology company, Omass Therapeutics, have amassed £75.5 million in a Series B financing round.

It brings the full amount raised by investors to £119m, confirmed Omass, who as a result of the financial injection also welcomes new additions to their board of directors.

The finance was raised from new investors, GV, Northpond Ventures and Sanofi Ventures, with existing investors, Syncona, Oxford Science Enterprises and Oxford University also contributing.

Proceeds from the financing will be used to advance OMass’s portfolio towards clinical trials. This includes the development of treatments for inflammatory diseases, inflammatory bowel disease and two earlier-stage programs targeting solute carriers.

Ros Deegan, CEO of OMass, said: “The completion of this oversubscribed round with such high-calibre investors is recognition of the significance of our OdyssION™ platform and its potential to support the development of an exciting portfolio of novel drug candidates.

"We have already made significant progress against highly validated but previously ‘undruggable’ targets and can now accelerate them towards clinical development while continuing to expand our pipeline.”

Oxford University spin out, OMass has commercialised Professor Dame Carol Robinson’s breakthrough research in native mass spectrometry to develop a proprietary drug discovery platform, OdyssION™. The platform integrates novel biochemistry techniques, next-generation native mass spectrometry, and custom chemistry, to allow for the interrogation of protein interactions within its native ecosystem while avoiding the confounding complexity of the cell.

OMass’s OdyssION™ platform delivers several key benefits in the search for new drugs, including discovering high sensitivity drug binders, establishing an unambiguous link between binding and function to drive smart lead optimization, and identifying natural allosteric sites that can be targeted for drug discovery.

Executive Venture Partner at GV, Scott Biller, Ph.D., Diana Bernstein, Ph.D., Vice President at Northpond Ventures, and Laia Crespo, Ph.D., Partner at Sanofi Ventures, will all join the OMass Board of Directors following the revenue drive.

Laia Crespo, Ph.D., Partner at Sanofi Ventures, said: “OMass’s vision and the potential of its platform aligns with the purpose of our fund. As a strategic venture investor, we support top tier life science entrepreneurs with innovative ideas and transformative new products and technologies of strategic interest to Sanofi. We partner with management to advance innovation that has the potential to deliver new approaches that can transform patients’ lives and we look forward to supporting OMass as it develops new drugs for the treatment of rare diseases and immunological conditions.”

Edward Hodgkin, Ph.D., Chair of OMass’s Board of Directors and Partner at Syncona added: “We are pleased with this financing round which will support OMass as it looks to progress its pipeline of small molecule drugs. The strength of this global group of top tier life science investors reflects confidence in the company’s technology and supports our ambition to build a sustainable therapeutics business that has the potential to develop novel drugs in areas of high unmet medical need.

"We are also delighted to welcome Scott Biller, Diana Bernstein and Laia Crespo to the OMass board, all who have significant experience in transforming technology platforms into sustainable drug discovery and development businesses.”

Stephen Emerson

Stephen Emerson is the Managing Editor of The Business Magazine and is responsible for the publication's print publications and online properties including the newly launched Biz News websites in Hampshire and Dorset. Stephen has been a journalist for 20 years and has worked at local, regional and national publications and led a team which made The Scotsman website one of the fastest growing news sites in the UK with over eight million monthly users. He has a keen interest in technology, property and corporate finance and telling the stories of the people behind the successful firms in these sectors.