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Arix remains highly geared to Autolus value

Arix leads first VIPE into Pharmaxis

Arix remains highly geared to Autolus value

Arix Bioscience’s 8% investment in Autolus Therapeutics (Nasdaq: AUTL), the recently floated second-generation CAR-T company, now accounts for more than half of the value of its investments, some 25% of its NAV and almost 30% of its stockmarket value, according to calculations by Marten & Co. Arix is by far the most highly geared to Autolus of the three UK early stage healthcare investors who hold the stock. Autolus represents some 16% of Woodford Patient Capital Trust (WPCT)’s and ~8% of Syncona (SYNC)’s NAV respectively.

Arix’s recently reported half year results show the value of its investment in Autolus on 30 June was £64.2m, which represented 52% of the book value of its investments (£122m). The figure is equivalent to 24.9% of its NAV (note Arix is not structured as an investment trust, so NAV includes investments, its net cash of £97m, working capital, plant property and equipment and various other items/charges). Arix, however, at a 16% discount to NAV, so Autolus represents a larger proportion – 29.9% – of its market capitalisation.

Arix has two investments equal in second place, albeit much smaller in value. These are in the Ireland-based antibiotics developer, Iterum Therapeutics (Nasdaq: ITRM), whose stock has fallen by around 35% since its IPO in May, and BioMotiv, a biotech incubator/investor based in Cleveland, US. Most of the other  investments are considerably smaller or represent carried interests in funds such as the Wales Life Sciences and Arthurian Life Sciences.

However, one investment that Arix investors should probably watch closely for progress is Harpoon Therapeutics. This company is developing drugs based on T-cell recruitment for cancer and other immunologic disorders based on its proprietary TriTAC biologics platform, which has been optimised to penetrate tissues and extend serum exposure. The company’s lead project is HPN424, a prostate-specific membrane antigen (PSMA)-targeting TriTAC biologic, currently in pre-clinical development for prostate cancer.

Arix’s investments as of 30 June are shown in the table below:

 Investment   Value (£m) % of NAV Equity Interest
Autolus Therapeutics 64.2 24.9% 7.9%
Iterum Therapeutics 8.3 3.2% 7.4%
BioMotiv 8.3 3.2% 17.8%
Wales Life Sciences 5.6 2.2% N/A
Harpoon Therapeutics 5.2 2.0% 8.0%
LogicBio Therapeutics 4.9 1.9% 13.3%
Arthurian Life Sciences 3.8 1.5% N/A
Artios Pharma 3.7 1.4% 14.7%
Verona Pharma 3.7 1.4% 2.5%
Atox Bio 3.1 1.2% 3.7%
Amplyx Pharma 2.8 1.1% 2.8%
Aura Biosciences 2.5 1.0% 5.3%
Simbec-Orion 2 0.8% N/A
Depixus 1.4 0.5% 18.6%
OptiKira 1.3 0.5% 26.0%
PreciThera 0.5 0.2% 17.8%
Mitoconix Bio 0.4 0.2% 2.1%
Other interests 19.8 7.7% N/A
Investment  121.8 47.3% N/A
NAV 257.6 100.0% N/A

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