Press release
Oct 18, 2018

Sosei Decides not to Exercise its Option to Acquire Further Equity in MiNA (Holdings)


Tokyo, Japan and London, UK, 18 October 2018 – Sosei Group Corporation (“Sosei”; TSE Mothers Index: 4565) the world leader in GPCR medicine design and development, today announces that it will not exercise its exclusive option to acquire further equity in MiNA (Holdings) Limited (“MiNA”), the holding company of UK company MiNA Therapeutics, a pioneer in RNA activation therapeutics.

Sosei’s decision is based on: (1) an evaluation of the investment opportunity including a rigorous analysis of interim data from MiNA Therapeutics’s Phase 1/2a OUTREACH study of MTL-CEPBA in hepatocellular carcinoma; and (2) the prioritization of resources directed towards other opportunities across its partnered and proprietary GPCR-targeted drug candidate portfolio.

Dr. Malcolm Weir, Chief R&D Officer of Sosei, said: “Our strategic investment in MiNA gave us an early option on a novel technology platform to enhance our pipeline. We noted some interesting findings from the interim clinical data, as well as subsequent observations with respect to the potential to combine MTL-CEBPA with other oncology drugs. MiNA has committed to investigating these findings in further clinical development and is continuing its multi-target partnership with one of the world’s leading companies in liver disease, Boehringer Ingelheim. Despite this, the investment opportunity, which included a detailed analysis of the OUTREACH study data, did not meet our strict internal hurdle requirements. Our primary focus remains prioritizing our resources toward advancing GPCR-targeted drug candidates. We remain encouraged by the progress made by MiNA in pioneering novel RNA-activating drug candidates and continue to be supportive of the company as a significant minority shareholder.”

The £28 million (¥4.2 billion equivalent) carrying value associated with Sosei’s 25.6% investment in MiNA will be reviewed in conjunction with our auditors and our conclusion will be included in our results on 8 November 2018. MiNA will remain an associate company of Sosei, enabling the Company to benefit from any potential appreciation in the value of MiNA in the future. However, by not exercising its exclusive option to acquire additional shares in MiNA the option has now expired and the £7 million (¥1.0 billion equivalent) carrying value associated with the option has been fully written down.

 

This is a translation of a document written in Japanese and has been prepared for reference purpose only. 


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