Syncona invests $80m in Freeline – Syncona has made a $80.0 million commitment in a Series C financing by Freeline and has funded the first tranche of this commitment, amounting to $40.0 million (GBP30.6 million). Syncona has a 79% fully diluted ownership stake in Freeline at the point full current commitments are invested.
Freeline is progressing FLT180a, its lead programme in Haemophilia B, through clinical development. The company has reported that the first two patients in its ongoing Phase 1/2 trial who were treated with the lowest dose have shown that Factor IX (FIX) activity remains stable and consistent at 40.5+/-4.5% through weeks 66 and 74 post administration. The normal range of FIX activity in the general population’s blood is between 50 per cent and 150 per cent. Freeline uses a novel capsid which is capable of driving high protein expression. The company continues to enrol Haemophilia B patients as part of its dose-ranging trial. Freeline is currently seeking to identify the optimal dosing regimen to deliver FIX activity consistently in the normal range for all patients and will report further data in this financial year (by March 2020).
Freeline has also recently dosed the first patient in its second programme in Fabry Disease, which it is estimated affects one in every 40,000 people. This programme is the first clinical stage AAV gene therapy study targeting Fabry Disease globally.
The company also has disclosed pre-clinical programmes targeting Gaucher Disease and Haemophilia A, which are part of a broad pipeline of systemic disorders, where high protein expression is crucial to providing functional cures for patients.
Syncona’s first tranche of $40.0 million will enable Freeline to expand its team, continue to develop its robust manufacturing platform including commercial supply capability, generate further data in its clinical programmes for Haemophilia B and Fabry Disease and continue to progress its pipeline.
The investment in Freeline be valued at cost until material clinical data is generated, or a third-party financing or other factor occurs, that indicates that cost is no longer the appropriate measure of fair value.
SYNC : Syncona invests $80m in Freeline