PORTFOLIO Nightstar Nightstar was a leading clinical-stage gene therapy company focused on developing and commercialising novel one-time treatments for patients suffering from rare inherited retinal diseases that would otherwise progress to blindness. Nightstar was one of Syncona’s first gene therapy companies and is a a leading clinical-stage gene therapy company focused on developing and commercialising novel one-time treatments for patients suffering from rare inherited retinal diseases that would otherwise progress to blindness. Founding, building, funding a company through to value realisation Sold to Biogen in 2019 for $877m £225m proceeds 72% IRR 4.5x multiple of cost Syncona partnered with Robert Maclaren, a Professor of Ophthalmology at Oxford to found the business in 2013 In the space of six years, Nightstar progressed from an academic programme at Oxford University led by a single academic to a publicly listed company at the cutting edge of gene therapy and leader in its field Set-up with the intent of global success – both in terms of its ambition to take its products all the way to market itself, and also in the way it was funded Importantly, Syncona’s long-term, high conviction approach to financing the business ultimately enabled it to build the platform and team from the start that would allow it to develop a successful, globally competitive biotech company Syncona invested £57m in the business and was the sole investor at the £16m Series A financing, investing in each round after, including at the IPO and follow-on financing This strategy and the company’s subsequent success has ultimately culminated in Nightstar’s acquisition by Biogen for $877 million in March 2019 Other previous investments portfolio companies Other domain areas Cell therapy Gene therapy Biologics Small molecule Sign-up for company news alerts Get the latest RNS, company news, share price information and results from Syncona RNS ALERTS COMPANY ALERTS Contact Syncona Investment Management Limited 2nd Floor 8 Bloomsbury Street London WC1B 3SR contact@synconaltd.com Explore About us Our people Portfolio Sustainability News and Insights Investors Contact Copyright © Syncona 2021 Accessibility Privacy & cookies Employee privacy notice Third party privacy notice Regulatory publications Modern Slavery Statement Syncona Limited is registered in Guernsey no. 55514, registered office Arnold House, PO Box 273, St Julian’s Avenue, St Peter Port, Guernsey GY1 3RD. Syncona Investment Management Limited is registered in England no. 10497864, 8 Bloomsbury Street, London WC1B 3SR and is authorised and regulated by the FCA. Syncona Limited is managed by Syncona Investment Management Limited. Designed & built by SampsonMay Accept to continue or find out more in our cookie policy. Change settings ACCEPT AND CLOSE