Phylogica invests $15M into Vision Pharma for 90pc holding

• Phylogica has pumped $15 million into Vision Pharma to hold 90 per cent of the company
• Vision was formed earlier this year through a joint venture between Phylogica and Lions Eye Institute
• The purpose of the new company is to combine forces to build a drug that reverses the most common form of childhood blindness
• Lions Eye also has the right to invest $15 million in Vision and increase its shareholding to 15 per cent
• Phylogica shares closed 1.79 per cent in the green today at 5.7 cents per share

Phylogica has grabbed a huge chunk of its joint-venture company Vision Pharma and is now holding 90 per cent of the company.

Vision was formed earlier this year after Phylogica teamed up with Lions Eye Institute (LEI) to develop treatments for blindness.

Phylogica forked out $15 million today to secure its big shareholding in Vision and to give Vision the capital needed for pre-clinical and clinical development of its lead drug program.

This program is a treatment for an eye disease called Retinitis Pigmentosa, which is the most common cause of childhood blindness.

Vision’s drug has proven to be able to reverse this disease.

This is a big deal for all three companies involved. Retinitis Pigmentosa currently has no existing treatment, putting Phylogica, LEI, and Vision at the forefront of a billion-dollar-a-year target market.

With the cash injection from Phylogica, Vision is now in a position to kick off a crucial clinical trial for the drug. Should this trial prove successful, the companies will then be set to register the drug for marketing.

The treatment is being developed in Perth, Western Australia.

LEI still has the right to pump its own $15 million investment into Vision to take back a small portion of the company and increase its shareholding to 15 per cent.

The market has taken nicely to today’s investment, with Phylogica shares closing 1.79 per cent in the green at 5.7 cents per share. Phylogica’s market cap is valued at $151.36 million.