Locations
European law firm Fieldfisher has advised Complement Therapeutics Ltd (CTx), a preclinical stage University of Manchester spinout, on its €5 million seed financing round from BioGeneration Ventures (BGV) and Forbion, two leading European venture capital firms.
BGV provided the initial seed-funding in early 2021 with both Forbion and BGV now investing additional seed financing.
CTx was advised by a Fieldfisher Manchester team comprising corporate partner and venture capital specialist Tom Ward; technology, outsourcing and privacy partner Sam Jardine, who assisted on IP and licensing issues; and corporate associate Andy Oliver.
Built on the pioneering research carried out by its three founders at the University of Manchester, Professor Simon J. Clark, Professor Paul Bishop, and Dr Richard Unwin, the CTx team will focus on addressing unmet needs in complement mediated diseases such as geographic atrophy due to dry age-related macular degeneration (AMD), a major cause of vision loss and blindness globally.
The founders have conducted highly innovative research into the pathophysiology of complement driven diseases, having recently published work on the role of factor H related (FHR) proteins in AMD.
In addition to its pipeline of therapeutic candidates, CTx has developed a precision medicine diagnostic platform allowing it to stratify patients based on their complement-activation profile with the potential to enable both patient selection and serving as an efficacy biomarker in future clinical studies.
Commenting on the successful completion of the seed financing round, Fieldfisher corporate partner Tom Ward said:
"CTx is an exciting, ambitious life sciences company to emerge from the University of Manchester and are the type of client we specialise in assisting on all areas from growth financing through to exit.
"Our focus sector expertise in life sciences and technology and our VC experience with innovative growth companies mean we can help companies like CTx achieve their funding objectives and plan for the future."
Dr Rafiq Hasan, CEO, CTx commented:
“With the ongoing support from our investors BGV and Forbion, I look forward to establishing the company as a leader in the field.”
Dr Geert-Jan Mulder, Managing Partner at Forbion and CTx Board member added:
“We are pleased to have the opportunity to continue our successful track-record in investing in innovative companies in ophthalmology."
About Fieldfisher
Fieldfisher is a European law firm built around its people. We are a full-service firm with market-leading practices in energy and natural resources, technology, financial services and life sciences.
Our network of more than 1,700 expert people spans 26 offices in 11 countries, including our US and China locations, acting alongside our international partner firms, enabling us to advise clients around the world with seamless efficiency and dedication across time zones and disciplines.
A Times Top 20 Law Firm, we are highly commended by the European Financial Times Innovative Lawyers rankings and repeatedly nominated for awards in areas including dispute resolution, public and regulatory, M&A and IP.
Our lawyers are consistently recognised by legal directories as leading professionals in their areas of specialism and we are ranked tier 1 or 2 in a number of our key practice areas.
For more information about our firm, please see: About | Fieldfisher.