FUND manager Woodford Investment Management, based in Oxford, is one of several new investors in Immunocure as a result of the biotechnology firm’s £205m private financing round.
Immunocore, which is also based in Oxford and develops cancer drugs, announced the completion of the financing last Thursday.
The company said it would use the proceeds to accelerate its pipeline of biological drugs, which it calls ImmTACs, and which the biotech firm believes have the potential to treat solid cancer tumours.
Woodford, which was launched in May 2014, has more than £11bn in assets under management and advice.
Neil Woodford, the firm’s head of investment, said: “I have made no secret of my admiration for some of the great ideas and innovations coming out of Britain’s leading universities. Oxford-based Immunocore, with its novel T cell receptor (TCR) technology, is one great example.
“It is the type of pioneering science company that we believe represents a very exciting long-term investment opportunity.”
The private financing round was oversubscribed.
Some of the biotech firm’s existing investors also participated in the private financing round.
Dr Eliot Foster, Immunocore’s chief executive, said: “Our new investors include some of the most highly regarded international institutions in the healthcare sector.
“We believe this is another endorsement of our technology, our novel class of TCR-based biologic therapies, of our mission to build a world-leading biotechnology company and of the outstanding scientists at Immunocore.”
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