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Arix Bioscience PLC

Arix Bioscience Plc - Arix co-leads EUR 20m Series A financing in STipe

Arix Bioscience plc

Arix co-leads Series A investment round in STipe TherapeuticsEUR 20 million

(“Arix”, LSE: ARIX), a global venture capital company focused on investing in and building breakthrough biotech companies, today announces that it has invested in new portfolio company STipe Therapeutics (“STipe”), a company founded to exploit a novel mechanism in the Stimulator of Interferon Genes () Pathway, a major driver of innate immunity, and regulator of tumorigenesis and autoimmune disorders., :LONDON30 September 2019Arix Bioscience plcSTING

Dr , Entrepreneur in Residence at Arix, will join the company as Executive Chairman and , Investment Director at Arix, will join STipe’s board of directors.Christian SchetterJonathan Tobin

The financing was co-led by Arix and Novo Holdings A/S and also included and .Wellington Partners Life Science Venture Capital Management GmbHSunstone LSV General Partner IV ApS

STipe was spun out from , in 2018 and is working on harnessing the immune response to target a range of tumours, both directly and in combination with other antitumoral agents. The company is developing first in class drugs targeting intracellular protein-protein interactions of the Pathway. STipe’s innovative technology has demonstrated that it can significantly increase the sensitivity of the innate immune system to rapidly detect even a small amount of tumour-DNA. This opens up the potential to induce a synergistic immune response alone or in combination with targeted anticancer therapies, immunotherapy or radiation. STipe has already identified potential lead compounds that modulate the pathway in a novel way, thereby changing the tumour microenvironment and demonstrating antitumour activity preclinically.Aarhus UniversityDenmarkSTINGSTING

, Chief Executive Officer of Arix, commented:Joe Anderson

“STipe adds a new approach to developing breakthrough cancer therapies within our portfolio.  We are excited about STipe’s novel angle on biology which we believe has the potential to enhance efficacy and safety compared with other innate immune targeting technologies.STING

“The combination of this exciting science, the founders’ expertise and Christian’s experience and leadership in immunotherapy, gives STipe a great platform on which to launch. We are pleased for the opportunity to help build this company with our co-investors and look forward to working with the leadership team to accelerate the development of new treatment options for cancer patients.”

Dr , Executive Chairman of STipe and Entrepreneur in Residence, at Arix, commented:Christian Schetter

“By assembling a group of world-renowned scientific co-founders, alongside experienced company leadership, STipe has the opportunity to revolutionise the treatment of some cancers. I am delighted to be joining the company as Executive Chairman and look forward to working with my new colleagues to develop cancer therapies using our unique platform.”

Dr , Chief Executive Officer of STipe, commented:Claus Elsborg Olesen

“The successful financing underscores the potential of our innovative technology and product pipeline. We are delighted by the strong support from Arix as well as our existing and new investors and I look forward to leveraging their extensive experience as we develop multi-product opportunities to target cancer.”

ENDS

Enquiries

For more information on Arix, please contact:

Arix Bioscience plc

, Head of Investor RelationsCharlotte Parry

+44 (0)20 7290 1072

 charlotte@arixbioscience.com

Optimum Strategic Communications

Mary Clark,Supriya Mathur

+44 (0)203 950 9144

optimum.arix@optimumcomms.com

AboutArix Bioscience plc

is a global venture capital company focused on investing in and building breakthrough biotech companies around cutting edge advances in life sciences.Arix Bioscience plc

We collaborate with exceptional entrepreneurs and provide the capital, expertise and global networks to help accelerate their ideas into important new treatments for patients. As a listed company, we are able to bring this exciting growth phase of our industry to a broader range of investors.

www.arixbioscience.com

About STipe Therapeutics

STipe Therapeutics is a privately held biotechnology company with a vision to become a leader in the immune-oncology field, pioneer therapies using a novel aspect of the stimulator of interferon genes () Pathway to target cancer. The Company was spun out from , in 2018 with the support of a PreSeed Grant from the and subsequently taking part in the Creation House program, including a convertible loan, from (the Novo Nordisk Foundation’s Biotech Incubator initiative). This was followed by an in a Series A financing in . The round was co-led by and Novo Holdings A/S who were joined by and Sunstone Life Science Ventures A/S.STINGAarhus UniversityNovo Nordisk FoundationBioInnovation InstituteArix Bioscience plcWellington Partners Life Science V FundDenmarkEUR 20 millionSeptember 2019

www.stipetherapeutics.com

About the PathwaySTING

(stimulator of interferon genes) is a key mediator of innate immunity and the pathway has been shown to be involved in the induction of an anti-tumour immune response.  is known to be a central mediator of innate immunity. When stimulated, induces the expression of type I interferon, cytokines and T cell recruitment factors that result in the activation of macrophages and dendritic cells, innate effector cells such as natural killer (NK) cells and priming of tumour-specific T cells.STINGSTINGSTINGSTING

--  Arix co-leads  Series A investment round in new portfolio
        company STipe

    --  Arix further strengthens position in oncology; investment in STipe
        increases oncology portfolio to six companies

    --  Dr , Entrepreneur in Residence at Arix, joins STipe as
        Executive ChairmanEUR 20 millionChristian Schetter
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