BRISBANE, Australia--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Microba Life Sciences Limited (ASX: MAP) (“Microba” or the “Company”) is an Australian-based commercial stage company with leading technology for measuring the human gut microbiome. The Company commences trading on the Australian Securities Exchange (ASX) at 10.30am (Sydney, Australia time) today following the completion of an initial public offering (IPO).
The IPO raised $30.0 million and was supported by institutional, professional and retail investors. Bell Potter Securities Limited and Canaccord Genuity (Australia) Limited were Joint Lead Managers and Underwriters to the IPO. Microba is a precision microbiome company with world-leading technology developed at the University of Queensland (UQ) by Microba’s founders, Professor Philip Hugenholtz and Professor Gene Tyson, who are recognised among the world’s most influential researchers of the past decade in this field.
The Company operates in the emerging US$4.89 billion gut microbiome sector. The world-leading technology developed by Microba is tapping into a growing body of research demonstrating that the gut microbiome plays a central role in health and disease that is driving demand for products and services to influence the gut microbiome and improve human health.
As a commercial-stage gut microbiome company, Microba provides microbiome testing services to healthcare practitioners and consumers (via distributors) powered by the Company’s world-leading gut microbiome Analysis Platform. From these services, the Company has built a proprietary microbiome Databank. Microba is applying proprietary methods and artificial intelligence to the Databank to identify and develop multiple therapeutic candidates to address major chronic diseases.
The Company is executing on its strategy via its three complementary business pillars:
• Microbiome Services – Microba is an established leader in microbiome testing with over 20,000 test reports sold to date. New major distribution partnerships including SYNLAB (EU), Genova Diagnostics (US), and G42 (Middle East) accelerate growth with multiple products scheduled for launch.
• Proprietary Databank – a large, unique, proprietary microbiome Databank comprising of over 1.2 million microbial genomes. Microba’s Databank has enabled the Company to identify novel therapeutic leads not identified by others.
• Microbiome Therapeutics – Microba leverages its growing Databank through a repeatable Therapeutics Platform to develop novel microbiome therapeutics. Microba has established multiple therapeutic programs, including for Inflammatory Bowel Disease with a Phase 1 clinical trial planned to commence in late 2022.
Ginkgo Bioworks¹ investment
NYSE listed synthetic biology company Ginkgo Bioworks1 (NYSE: DNA) invested USD $3.5m into Microba IPO, becoming a ~4% shareholder of the Company. Microba recently signed a therapeutic development agreement with Ginkgo Bioworks1 to address three autoimmune conditions. The Company’s strategy is to partner or license the Company’s therapeutic assets with large pharmaceutical companies early in clinical development in return for upfront, milestone and royalty payments. The Offer will enable Microba to accelerate the growth of its Services and Therapeutics business and further develop its platform technology.
Leadership
Microba is led by an experienced Board with microbiome expertise complemented by drug discovery experts. This includes Professor Ian Frazer, co-inventor of the technology enabling Gardasil – the leading vaccine currently used worldwide to help prevent cervical cancer. Professor Frazer is a clinician scientist, trained as a clinical immunologist, a Professor at the University of Queensland and is the current Chair of the Australian Federal Government’s Australian Medical Research Advisory Board.
Microba’s Chairman, Pasquale Rombola, commented: “We continue to build a world-leading human gut microbiome company, supported by partnerships and agreements with large, well-respected companies such as SYNLAB, Ginkgo Bioworks and Illumina. We have attracted these partners due to our world-leading technology, unique proprietary Databank and therapeutic assets.
“Our leading technology position and a growing number of international partnerships provides a strong platform for growth.
“We have received significant investor demand to continue building the premier global microbiome dataset and accelerating the discovery and development of new therapies. Microba will have a positive impact on human lives globally when we are successful in achieving our goals.”
This announcement has been authorised for release by the Board.
About Microba Life Sciences Limited
Microba Life Sciences is a precision microbiome company driven to improve human health. With world-leading technology for measuring the human gut microbiome, Microba is driving the discovery and development of novel therapeutics for major chronic diseases and delivering gut microbiome testing services globally to researchers, clinicians, and consumers. Through partnerships with leading organisations, Microba is powering the discovery of new relationships between the microbiome, health and disease for the development of new health solutions.
For more information visit: www.microba.com
Microba encourages all current investors to go paperless by registering their details with the designated registry service provider, automic group.
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1 Legal agreement between parties has been entered into by wholly owned subsidiaries of Ginkgo Bioworks Holdings, Inc. (NYSE: DNA) and Microba Life Sciences Ltd respectively
