Australia’s largest life sciences private equity company, Brandon Capital, has announced a landmark exit as Novartis moves to acquire its portfolio company Myricx Bio in a deal valued at up to US$1.5 billion, including an upfront cash payment of US$1.1 billion and further milestone payments.
Myricx Bio is a UK pre-clinical oncology company that has developed a novel class of payloads for antibody-drug conjugates.
The acquisition brings together Novartis’s oncology capabilities and Myricx’s two lead ADC assets and its next-generation N-myristoyltransferase inhibitor payload platform, which has potential across multiple solid tumour settings.
The transaction is expected to close in the second half of 2026, subject to customary conditions and regulatory approvals.
Brandon Capital played an instrumental role in the formation of Myricx Bio as a spin-out from Imperial College London and the Francis Crick Institute.
Brandon was a joint founding seed investor in 2019 and provided strategic and operational support through early development and subsequent financings, maintaining a substantial shareholding through to acquisition.
Managing Partner Dr Stephen Thompson led the investment, and Brandon Capital UK Partner Dr Jonathan Tobin joined Myricx Bio as Executive Director in 2023 to help build ADC capability and raise the Series A.
Dr Tobin said, “Congratulations to Mohit Rawat, Robin Carr and the Myricx Bio team. This acquisition by Novartis is a testament to the phenomenal work of Myricx Bio’s founders and management and a powerful validation of Brandon Capital’s approach of backing world-class science before it is obvious to others.”
Myricx Bio CEO Mohit Rawat said, “Building biotech companies from early-stage concepts into medicines that improve patients’ lives takes time, conviction and, of course, capital. Brandon Capital recognised the potential of NMT inhibition early, and has been a highly supportive investor, enabling us to have advanced NMTi ADCs with the promise as an entirely new class of cancer therapeutics.”
Dr Thompson said, “Myricx Bio encapsulates the kind of company we exist to build: a bold, potentially first-in-class therapeutic platform with the promise to deliver both exceptional investor returns and meaningful benefit for patients. This exit positions the firm well to continue attracting capital to support our existing portfolio and to back the next generation of breakthrough biomedical companies.”
The exit will deliver significant returns for Brandon Capital investors, including Australian superannuation funds Hostplus, HESTA and Aware Super, as well as CSL and QIC, and further cement the firm’s track record of building globally competitive life sciences companies from breakthrough academic science.
