Taylor Wessing advises NovaThera on £30m merger with MedCell
Taylor Wessing LLP has advised NovaThera on their merger with MedCell, to create a new UK company specialising in musculoskeletal regeneration.
Both MedCell and NovaThera specialise in regenerative medicine, having both begun life in world leading Universities: University College London and Imperial College. The merger creates a company with the ability to be a leading light among Europe's biotech sector, with significant individual skills and valuable IP. The newly formed Company will continue to trade under the MedCell Bioscience name and has a post merger valuation of around £30 million.
Taylor Wessing has a market-leading reputation in IP services for pharmaceutical, medical device and biotech clients. The firm was voted European Life Sciences IP firm of the Year 2008 at the Managing IP awards in April this year and, more recently, was named TMT Team of the Year 2008 at The Lawyer Awards.
Recent deals include advising UK-listed gene-based therapeutics company Oxford BioMedica plc on its $680 million licence and collaboration agreement in respect of cancer vaccine TroVax with Sanofi-Aventis. The deal won SCRIP's Licensing Deal of the Year Award and the techMARK 2007 Achievement of the Year Award in the techMARK Awards organised by the London Stock Exchange.
The Taylor Wessing team advising NovaThera was led by corporate partner, David Mardle, and included Adrian Rainey, Natasha Kirk (both corporate) and Ann Casey (tax).
MedCell was advised by Innovator Capital Limited and Fasken Martineau Stringer Saul LLP.
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For more information please contact Sarah le Cheminant at Taylor Wessing:
Tel: +44 (0)20 7300 4930
Email: s.lecheminant@taylorwessing.com
Taylor Wessing's Cambridge office focuses solely on high quality corporate, commercial and intellectual property work for technology rich companies and their investors. Its portfolio of venture capital, M&A, AIM and intellectual property/commercial work is unrivalled in the region, Europe's largest technology cluster.
Taylor Wessing LLP is a leading law firm providing legal support for commercial organisations doing business in Europe, the Middle East and China. Based in Belgium, Dubai, France, Germany and the UK, Taylor Wessing provides the full range of legal services to major corporations and growing enterprises. Taylor Wessing boasts a strong reputation in the corporate, finance and real estate sectors alongside in-depth experience across the full range of legal services including intellectual property and technology, tax, litigation & dispute resolution, employment & pensions and private client.
NovaThera is an Imperial College spin out company. NovaThera specialises in pioneering applications of biomaterials and stem cell biology for regenerative medicine to provide innovative therapeutic solutions (wound management, bone repair, lung repair).
MedCell BioScience is an innovative healthcare company dedicated to developing new regenerative medicine technologies for the treatment of tendon and ligament injuries.
The Company is focused on improving health and welfare by providing the medical profession with revolutionary cellular therapeutics for tendon and ligament injuries. MedCell's primary technologies utilise adult mesenchymal stem cells in the treatment of tendinitis, tendinosis and desmitis in conditions such as rotator cuff injuries (RCIs) and Achilles tendinopathies.
Having developed technologies within the veterinary market and secured the leading position in this branch of the healthcare sector, MedCell will now establish a prime position in the human market through a combination of R&D, acquisitions and strategic alliances.