Apollo rolls out red carpet for King’s College

Apollo Therapeutics, a UK-based multi-university biopharmaceutical company, added King’s College London to its list of intellectual property partners today.

Financial terms were not disclosed. King’s College London joins existing partners Imperial College London, University of Cambridge and University College London (UCL), the commercialisation arms of all three having been founding shareholders of Apollo.

Apollo Therapeutics launched in 2016 as a translational vehicle for biopharmaceutical research, attracting $57m in capital from pharmaceutical firms AstraZeneca, GlaxoSmithKline and Johnson & Johnson at the time. It focuses on treatments for oncology, inflammatory disorders and rare diseases.

Touchstone Innovations, the commercialisation firm of Imperial College London, was subsequently taken over by its peer IP Group, giving the latter a stake in the joint venture.

Apollo went on to raise $145m in its series B round in June 2021 from UCL Technology Fund, Rock Springs Capital and Reimagined Ventures. The round was led by Patient Square Capital.

Prof Reza Razavi, vice-president, research, at King’s College London, said: “Translating our biomedical research into effective therapies that improve health is a key priority for King’s researchers. I am delighted that this new partnership with Apollo will provide new routes for us to achieve this goal.

“Apollo has an excellent track record in partnering with academics to progress their discoveries into therapies. King’s researchers are looking forward to working with Apollo to progress promising therapeutic programmes into their drug discovery pipeline and on to clinical impact.”

Richard Mason, chief executive of Apollo Therapeutics, added: “When looking at research output, King’s College London is one of the largest and most successful centres for biomedical research and education in the UK and indeed globally.

“With its broad clinical presence, we have also found King’s has exceptional insight in selecting and advancing research that can translate effectively into therapeutic programmes.

“We are proud to initiate this partnership with our newest collaborator as we look to grow both our portfolio of programs and our relationships with the world’s leading scientists and biomedical institutions. This collaboration continues to build on recent the progress we have made in advancing our internal pipeline, building our team and establishing our US operations in Cambridge, Massachusetts.”