Paris, France – 6 January, 2017 - Seventure Partners (the Company), one of Europe’s leaders in financing innovation, and a world-leader in the venture investment in the microbiome sector, today announces its corporate update for September – December 2016.
Isabelle de Cremoux, CEO and Managing Partner of Seventure Partners, said: “2016 has been a fantastic year for Seventure Partners and for our investee companies. Being in the vanguard of investors in the microbiome space, we have continued to make a strong impact on the sector, enabling our portfolio companies to drive forward their exciting innovations into the microbiome and its role in health and disease. With an exponential rise in research efforts and breakthroughs in the microbiome area, we look to 2017 being an even more active year for our Health for Life Capital™ fund.”
Microbiome Investing
2016 continued to see a significant increase in investing in innovations in the fast growing microbiome space. As a leading investor in this sector, through its dedicated Health for Life Capital™ vehicle, Seventure Capital was pleased to provide input to the Microbiome report by the Boston Consulting Group, which will be published in January. The report shows that the industry’s appetite for microbiome research has grown exponentially over the past decade.
“The rapid increase in publications on the microbiome and microbiota, mirrors the increase in biotech research output seen at the start of biotech revolution of 20 years ago,” noted Isabelle de Cremoux. “This trend is reflected in the quality and quantity of investment opportunities we are seeing”.
Seventure Partners’ News
Seventure has had a strong year, with its portfolio hitting a number of important milestones. Seventure Partners has invested in a record number of microbiome companies, setting a precedent for 2017. The Boston Consulting Group report shows the strength of Seventure’s investments, highlighting the Company’s portfolio at the forefront of microbiome development and its collaborative relationships with big pharma.
In the News
Among other articles, Seventure Partners was named as a key player in the microbiome industry in the Financial Times article Alimentary discoveries produce a gut reaction among investors and Isabelle de Cremoux contributed a thought leadership article for Manufacturing Chemist, entitled Exponential growth on the cards for the microbiome industry. Portfolio company news
Acarix, a Swedish/Danish commercial stage medical device company specializing in non-invasive, non-radiation acoustic rule-out of Coronary Artery Disease, announced in November the appointments of Dr. Werner Braun as Chairman and Mr. Denis Gestin as a board member, in preparation for a listing on Nasdaq First North Premier in Stockholm. Also in November, the Company secured a major strategic investment from the Puhua Jingxin Guzhou Health Management Partnership to accelerate the Company’s CE marked CAPSCOR® system to market. In December, Acarix listed on Nasdaq First North Premier. The Company’s valuation has increased since the first day of listing.
Advanced Accelerator Applications (AAA), an international molecular nuclear medicine specialist, reported a 15.4% growth in sale for the third quarter of 2016, following its $50m public offering on NASDAQ in October (NASDAQ: AAAP). Additionally, the Company announced that the FDA issued feedback on its New Drug Application for Lutathera for the treatment of gastroenteropancreatic neuroendocrine tumors in adults. This news follows on the September announcement of the start of two Phase II trials evaluating 99MTc-rh Annexin V-128 Imaging in Cardiovascular and Cardio-Oncology Indications in Ottawa, Canada.
Biophytis, a biotechnology company specializing in the development of drug candidates to treat ageing diseases, announced in November that it received regulatory authorization in France and Belgium, allowing for recruitment into its six month SARA-OBS study in sarcopenia patients. The Company also launched the second phase of its pharmacokinetics study for Sarconeo, its lead product for sarcopenia.
Corwave, a medical technology company that develops innovative mechanical circulatory support devices, announced in November that it had completed a $17.1 million (€15.5m) Series B financing. Existing shareholders Sofinnova Partners, Bpifrance and Seventure were joined by Novo Seeds, which led the round and Ysios Capital.
Domain Therapeutics, a biopharmaceutical company that specializes in the discovery and development of G protein-coupled receptor (GPCR) drugs, teamed up with Medicxi, a venture capital fund dedicated to financing asset-centric companies, to launch Mavalon Therapeutics, a company focused on stopping the progression of Parkinson’s disease. It also announced that it extended its GPCR biosensor technology licensing and partnership agreement with The Institute for Research in Immunology and Cancer, the commercialization unit of Université de Montreal and McGill University, giving the Company access to a new set of more powerful biosensors to facilitate the profiling of more effective and safer drug candidates.
Enterome, a pioneer in the development of pharma and diagnostics based on the gut microbiome, recently announced the appointments of Jai Patel Ph.D. as Chief Medical Officer, Roger J Garceau, MD, as Non-Executive Director and Christophe Bonny as Chief Scientific Officer. Enterome also entered into an immune-oncology collaboration with Bristol-Myers Squibb, focused on microbiome-derived biomarkers, drug targets and bioactive molecules. Yesterday, it announced that it has started a Phase I clinical trial with its lead candidate EB8018 to treat Crohn’s Disease.
Global Bioenergies, the only company in Europe developing a process to convert renewable resources into hydrobcarbons through fermentation, announced in November that its Demo plant was successfully completed in Leuna, Germany. The plant will allow the Company to further validate the technology in an industrial environment and to deliver ton-scale batches to industry. In September, Global Bioenergies joined forces with PREEM, SEKAB and SVEASKOG to develop a high-performance fuel entirely based on forest resources as part of the Bio-Based Gasoline Project with support from the Swedish Energy Agency.
In September, Implanet, a medical technology company specializing in vertebral and knee surgery implants, announced successful results from the first surgical procedures using the Jazz Lock® implant, designed to simplify degenerative spine disorder surgery.
Humedics, a specialist for real-time and mobile measurement of the individual liver function from the patient’s bedside, announced in November that results from two studies showed the potential of its LiMAx test to better assess the eligibility of colorectal cancer patients for liver metastases resection after chemotherapy.
Maat Pharma, announced it had completed its first safety assessment of the Company’s Phase IIb study in the prevention of dysbiosis complications with autologous fecal microbiota transfer in Acute Myeloid Leukemia. It also announced Sîan Crouzet has been appointed as Chief Operating Officer. In November, it unveiled the world’s first GMP-Compliant European Fecal Microbiota Transfer Platform.
Mainstay Medical, a medical device company focused on bringing to market ReActiv8®, an implantable system to treat disabling Chronic Lower Back Pain, announced in November that the first subject in the ReActiv8® clinical trial had been implanted with the device.
Mauna Kea Technologies, inventor of Cellvizio®, the multi-disciplinary confocal laser endoscopy platform, reported in November that first results from the PERSEE study, which examined the use of Cellvizio® in digestive surgery, showed excellent sensitivity, specificity and positive and negative predictive values to detect malignant lesions. Additionally, data from the CONTACT study were presented, confirming the strong clinical efficacy of Cellvizio® in the prevention of certain pancreatic cancers. The data showed that it achieved specificity above 95% for diagnosis of all pancreatic cystic lesions and 100% specificity for benign cystic lesions.
MDxHealth, a multinational healthcare company that provides actionable epigenetic information to personalize the diagnosis and treatment of cancer, announced in October that they had successfully raised €20.4 million in equity placement. The Company was also awarded unique Current Procedural Terminology Code for its ConfirmMDx® cancer test by the American Medical Association, which will be used to facilitate reimbursement.
In November, Nanobiotix, a late clinical-stage nanomedicine company pioneering novel approaches for the local treatment of cancer, announced preclinical data demonstrating that its leading radioenhancer nanoparticle NBTXR3, actively stimulates the host immune system to attack tumor cells. This period, Nanobiotix also announced the appointment of Dr Mihail Obrocea as Head of US Clinical Development and Noël Kurdi as Director of Investor Relations.
Noxxon, a clinical stage biopharmaceutical company primarily focused on cancer treatment, announced that data on NOX-A12 (olaptesed pregol) synergizes with therapies working through either T cells or Natural Killer cells. At the end of September, Noxxon listed on Alternext Paris (EPA: ALNOX). In December, Noxxon signed an agreement with Merck & Co. (MSD), Inc. which will see the two companies collaborate in a Phase I/II clinical trial of NOX-A12 and MSD’s anti-PD-1 inhibitor, Keytruda® (pembrolizumab), in patients with metastatic solid tumors that do not usually respond to checkpoint inhibitor monotherapy.
Pixium Vision, developer of innovative vision systems that allow patients who have lost their sight to lead more independent lives, announced the first successful implantation and activation of IRIS®II in the UK in November. In September, the Company announced an €11m bond financing.
TxCell, developer of innovative, personalized cellular immunotherapies using regulatory T cells to treat severe chronic inflammatory and autoimmune diseases, announced that it is now focused on promising CAR-Treg programs. In order to deliver on this new approach, the Company appointed Francois Meyer, Ph.D., Executive Chairman of TxCell, to head its new research group. Former CSO Arnaud Foussat is now Senior VP, Corporate Development and Head of External Collaboration & Alliance Management.
Events
In November, Venture Partner Eric de la Fortelle led the ‘Your Microbiome and Lifelong Health’ panel at Bio-Europe, with participants from Vedanta Biosciences and TargEDys. The panel explored insights into the lifelong health impact of individuals’ microbiomes and discussed current research, bolstered by investment and large-scale research initiatives across the world.
Reflecting its leadership position and to support its strong network, Seventure Partners is confirmed to speak at the following events over the first quarter of 2017:
• JP Morgan 35th Annual Healthcare conference, 9-13 January, San Francisco, US
• Microbiome Drug Development Summit Europe, 24-26 January, Paris, France
• One Nucleus Leadership Seminar: Microbiome – Research to Revenue, 2 March, Norwich, UK
• Sachs 10th Annual Life Sciences CEO Forum & Exhibition, 6-7 March, Zurich, Switzerland
• Pharmabiotics Global 2017, 15-17 March, Paris, France
