In QuotedData’s morning briefing 11 November 2024:

• Syncona’s (SYNC’s) portfolio company Autolus Therapeutics (Autolus) has announced that the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has granted marketing approval for AUCATZYL^® (obe-cel) for the treatment of adult patients with relapsed or refractory B-cell precursor acute lymphoblastic leukaemia (r/r B-ALL). Autolus says that the approval was based on results from the FELIX clinical trial of obe-cel in r/r B-ALL, which confirmed a strong safety profile compared to current CD19 CAR T-cell therapies. It adds that AUCATZYL is the first CAR T-cell therapy to be approved by the FDA with no requirement for a Risk Evaluation and Mitigation Strategy programme. which is implemented for drugs with serious safety concerns. In its announcement, Autolus says that ALL is an aggressive type of blood cancer where there are approximately 8,400 new cases diagnosed every year in the US and EU, with around 3,000 of these patients in the relapsed refractory setting. Survival rates are very poor in adult r/r ALL, with a median overall survival of eight months. In the 65 patients in the FELIX trial where efficacy could be evaluated, 63% achieved overall complete remission, representing the elimination of all signs of cancer in response to treatment. Complete remission within three months was achieved in 42% of patients, with a median duration of remission of 14.1 months. AUCATZYL will be manufactured at Autolus’ commercial manufacturing site in Stevenage, UK, which will supply the therapy globally

• Great Portland Estates (GPE) has acquired Whittington House in London’s West End for £58.5m. The building is currently let on a short-term basis, at an annual rent of £5.2m with vacant possession expected in the first quarter of 2025. Located close to the Tottenham Court Road Elizabeth Line station, the 74,500 sq ft HQ building will be refurbished and delivered in in early 2027, which the company says will coincide with a potentially historic level of undersupply of such space.

• GPE has also signed a new £150m ESG-linked unsecured revolving credit facility (RCF) at a headline margin of 90 basis points (0.9%) over SONIA. The facility has an initial three-year term which may be extended to a maximum of five years. The RCF extends the group’s weighted average debt maturity to over seven years. Three banks participated in the facility – two existing relationship banks, Lloyds Bank and Bank of China, together with CaixaBank SA UK branch.

• DP Aircraft I (DPA) intends to raise up to US$1m of new equity in the fourth quarter of 2024 to provide it with additional working capital. The fundraise will be done via a tap issue of up to 16,666,667 new ordinary shares at a price of US$0.06 per share, which represents a significant discount to DPA’s unaudited NAV per share (US$0.18751 as at 30 June 2024). However, at DPA’s AGM on 19 September 2023, authority was granted by shareholders for the issue of up to 47,866,666 ordinary shares at a price which is less than the prevailing NAV. The tap issue has been launched today and is expected to close at 10.00am this Friday (15 November 2024). If total applications exceed the number of shares available, it is expected that precedence will be given to applications from shareholders on DPA’s share register as at close of business on 31 October 2024.

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