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British Patient Capital announces investment into Purespring Therapeutics as part of £80m Series B financing round

Press release 09 October 2024

British Patient Capital today announces it has made an investment into Purespring Therapeutics (“Purespring”), a pioneering London-based gene therapy company focused on transforming the treatment of kidney diseases, as part of an £80m Series B financing round.

The round was led by Sofinnova Partners in collaboration with a leading European investor syndicate including Forbion, Gilde Healthcare, and founding investor Syncona Limited.

British Patient Capital’s investment was made through the £425m Future Fund: Breakthrough programme, which co-invests with private sector investors in innovative, R&D-intensive UK companies. Purespring is the first company to successfully deliver a gene therapy to the podocyte, a specialised cell implicated in approximately 60% of renal diseases, through its proprietary AAV gene therapy platform. This has been shown to be effective in animal models of kidney disease.

Purespring’s platform technology allows working copies of genes to be delivered with high efficiency and specificity to podocytes, opening up a new and highly differentiated modality for disease modifying treatments of a broad range of kidney diseases. Purespring currently has a pipeline of programmes in development, including its lead programme PS-002, which targets complement activation.

Purespring will use the funding to support the initiation of Phase I/II clinical trials for PS-002 for IgA Nephropathy (IgAN), which is a common, chronic kidney disease principally affecting young adults. Nearly one third of IgAN patients will go on to lose their kidney function within five years and require a kidney transplant or dialysis.

Our investment into Purespring Therapeutics fits perfectly into our strategy to support the UK’s life sciences and is the type of UK growth company which could benefit further by unlocking the potential of institutional investment. We need to support companies like Purespring as they go through development and trials before coming to market. Providing that capital simultaneously stimulates growth and helps to solve pressing medical challenges that will deliver long-term outcomes for generations to come.

- Ian Connatty Deputy Chief Investment Officer, British Business Bank
This investment opportunity allows us to invest in a potentially groundbreaking gene therapy as part of a strong European syndicate. Purespring has developed a proprietary platform to deliver gene therapies for the treatment of chronic kidney diseases (CKDs), which currently affects 840 million patients globally and costs the UK’s NHS an estimated £7 billion a year. Purespring’s preclinical data is compelling, so we look forward to working with the syndicate on the next chapter of this journey. - Carmine Circelli Director, Life Sciences, British Patient Capital
I’m really pleased to be able to welcome such a high-quality investor syndicate to support Purespring on this journey. Having sophisticated, experienced and committed investors like British Patient Capital on board, who understand drug development and the urgency of bringing these much-needed therapies to patients will maximise the opportunities for the company and the patients we treat. - Julian Hanak Chief Executive Officer at Purespring

Further Information

Notes to editors

About British Patient Capital

British Patient Capital Limited is a wholly owned commercial subsidiary of British Business Bank plc, the UK government’s economic development bank. Its mission is to enable long-term investment in innovative firms led by ambitious entrepreneurs who want to build large-scale businesses. Launched in June 2018, British Patient Capital has more than £3bn of assets under management, investing in venture and venture growth capital to support high growth potential innovative UK businesses in accessing the long-term financing they require to scale up. Find out more here.

British Business Bank plc and its subsidiary entities are not banking institutions and do not operate as such. They are not authorised or regulated by the Prudential Regulation Authority (PRA) or the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA). A complete legal structure chart for British Business Bank plc and its subsidiaries can be found on the British Business Bank plc website.

British Patient Capital makes commitments and invests on its own behalf and on behalf of third-party investors whose investments British Patient Capital manages.

The transaction described above does not constitute or imply any endorsement, warranty or recommendation by the UK government, the British Business Bank plc, its subsidiaries or any other party in respect of Purespring Therapeutics.

About Purespring

Purespring is developing gene therapies to halt or prevent kidney disease, one of humankind’s most poorly treated disease areas.

Founded on the work of Professor Moin Saleem, Professor of Paediatric Renal Medicine at the University of Bristol, Purespring is the first company to successfully treat kidney disease by targeting the podocyte, a specialised cell that is implicated in the majority of renal disease. Purespring’s platform approach enables streamlined gene therapy development for both monogenic and non-monogenic renal diseases, offering the potential to halt, reverse and even cure both rare and common kidney diseases.

Purespring currently has a pipeline of programmes in development including the lead asset for treatment of IgA Nephropathy (IgAN) and other complement-mediated kidney disease. Purespring also has programmes for diseases caused by mutations in the gene NPHS2, as well as other monogenic glomerular kidney disease.

Based in London, the Purespring team combines world-leading expertise in podocyte biology and kidney disease with a wealth of experience in gene therapies, anchored in a culture of diversity, creativity and delivery.

Purespring is backed by leading biotech investors, including Syncona Limited, Sofinnova Partners, Forbion, Gilde Healthcare and British Patient Capital and has raised £115M to date.

For more information please visit: purespringtx.com and follow us on LinkedIn

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