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Thiakis

 

In August 2006, Advent invested in Thiakis, a spin-out company from Imperial College London focused on developing new therapies for treating obesity. The Company’s lead programme was based on the research of Professor Stephen Bloom, a world renowned expert in the study of metabolic diseases. Using small, well designed clinical trials, Professor Bloom established that the naturally occurring hormone, oxyntomodulin, could reduce appetite and so induce weight loss with excellent safety. 

 

Advent co-led the Series A financing round with Novo A/S with further participation from Imperial Innovations.  With just this one round of financing, the company identified TKS-1225, an analogue of the naturally occurring human hormone; demonstrated TKS-1225 to have superior efficacy and pharmaceutical properties compared to the natural hormone in several animal studies; and then completed extensive pre-clinical studies with TKS-1225, before commencing Phase I human studies in March 2008.  Based on the characteristics of TKS-1225, the importance of the oxyntomodulin pathway in appetite control, and the emerging clinical data in humans receiving TKS-1225, Thiakis was acquired by Wyeth Pharmaceuticals in December 2008.  The transaction was for a total of £100 milllion, which included upfront and deferred milestone payments.  The investment was held by Advent for 2 years 4 months and has the potential to return to Advent Private Equity Fund IV in excess of 7 x the cost of the investment.

 

Raj Parekh joined the Board upon completion of the Series A financing, and other members of the team were closely involved in concluding the sale of Thiakis to Wyeth, after CSFB had been appointed as Advisors.  

 

An example of Advent’s ‘Innovation’ investment strategy working in the UK