Adaptimmune raises US$42m

Adaptimmune Therapeutics plc has raised US$42m through purchase of 7 million American Depositary Shares at US$6 each to Matrix Capital Management. The closing of this offering is expected to take place on or about April 10, 2017, subject to the satisfaction of customary closing conditions. Net proceeds of the offering will be used to advance the company’s wholly-owned pipeline of SPEAR T-cell candidates through clinical trials as well as for other general corporate purposes. The company said that, together with a public offering of US$66m of last week, it is now well-financed to develop its Spear T cell therapies until 2019.

“This brings the aggregate net proceeds to over $100m, the company now has sufficient funds to take us through to late 2019,” said Adaptimmune’s CEO, James Noble. The most advanced of 11 T cell programmes is an autologous cell therapy directed against the tumour target NY-ESO to treat synovial sarcoma, currently in Phase I/II. It has FDA breakthrough status in the US, and its development is being accelerated in the EU through EMS’s EU Priority Medicines (PRIME) scheme.