China's GL commits $12.5m to UK-listed healthtech platform

The investment will give GL a 5% stake in OBD, buying 4.7 million newly issued shares in the company at GBP2.08 each, a slight discount to the August 22 closing price of GBP2.18. OBD's share price fell to GBP2.07 the morning of August 23, but later recovered to close at GBP2.12.

OBD has also appointed GL to act as its lead business development partner for mainland China, which the company sees as a potential key market for its Episwitch drug development platform. GL will leverage its industry network and market knowledge to identify suitable business partners for OBD in China.

Episwitch is designed to accelerate the drug discovery and development process and reduce failure rates. The platform can also provide insights into disease mechanisms and enable greater customization of treatments for individual patients.

OBD is GL's first European portfolio company. It was spun out from Oxford University in 2007 with the aim of translating fundamental scientific advances into a commercialized platform technology, and went public in 2016. In addition to its UK headquarters, the company also operates a reference laboratory in Malaysia.

According to OBD's most recent annual report, for the year ended September 2017 the company recorded GBP1.2 million in revenue, up from GBP1.1 million the previous year. Over the same period its net loss widened from GBP1.7 million to GBP3.8 million.

"We are delighted to be making an investment in OBD, our first investment in an innovative European biotechnology company. We have been following OBD's progress for a considerable period of time and clearly see the company at the forefront of personalized medicine on a global basis," said GL founder and CEO Jeffrey Li in a statement. "I am excited at this first step in our relationship as we begin to work together on the many potential commercial opportunities we see in mainland China."

GL was launched in 2010 by Li, the son of former Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC) head Li Ruihan. The firm currently has $1.4 billion in assets under management and 40 portfolio companies in China's healthcare sector; recent investments include a commitment of undisclosed size in maternity hospital chain Jinxin Healthcare this year alongside Capital Group Private Markets, and the $605 million privatization of US-listed SciClone Pharmaceuticals in June 2017.

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