Biotech

PRESS RELEASE: Morvus Acquires Two Portfolio Companies

Oct 16, 2007 9:49am

Morvus Acquires Two Portfolio Companies

Morvus Technology Ltd, the privately owned pharmaceutical company specialising in the discovery and commercialisation of drugs for the oncology market, announces today the acquisition of two specialist oncology companies, Cardiff ProTides Ltd and Cardiff Biologicals Ltd for an equity payment of £5m each. The majority shareholder in each of the two companies is Biofusion plc, the university IP commercialisation company, who will have a 20% holding in Morvus as a result of the transaction.

The two companies, which were formed to exploit the innovative and award winning research of Professors Chris McGuigan and Wen Jiang at Cardiff University, include two highly promising drug candidates which allow Morvus to achieve critical mass in its oncology portfolio. The newly enlarged group plans to incorporate these products into its clinical trial programme at the earliest available opportunity.

Cardiff ProTides Ltd adds medicinal chemistry competence and the technology to produce improved versions (known as ProTides) of known nucleoside-based anti-cancer drugs. Cardiff Biologicals Ltd also adds drug development expertise, access to a bio-informatics database and two further product lines.

Commenting on the acquisition, Phil Burke, CEO of Morvus said: “We are delighted with the acquisitions of Cardiff ProTides and Cardiff Biologicals and their potential ‘blockbuster’ lead compounds. The two businesses perfectly complement our existing product portfolio and we believe greatly enhances our current valuation. We look forward to advancing the candidate drugs into patient trials.”

Commenting on the acquisition, David Baynes, CEO of Biofusion said: “Morvus’ expertise in oncology-based pharmaceutical development convinced us that the new combined company could be a world leader in the provision of specialist oncology drugs and provided the best opportunity for bringing ProTides and Biologicals’ exciting lead compounds to market. We believe the combined group is well placed to realise an increased value for its shareholders.”