Myricx Bio
Established: 2015
Country: United Kingdom
Region: London
Investors: Sofinnova Partners, Brandon Capital, Novo Holdings, British Business Bank, Cancer Research Horizons, Eli Lilly, Abingworth
Myricx Bio is a UK-headquartered biotech company developing a new class of payloads for antibody-drug conjugates (ADCs), a fast-growing modality in cancer treatment. Spun out of Imperial College London and the Francis Crick Institute in 2019, the company was built around scientific founders' research into N-myristoyltransferase inhibitors (NMTi), a mechanism designed to overcome the resistance and tolerability limitations of existing ADC payload classes.
Sofinnova Partners backed Myricx Bio from its earliest days, co-leading the company's seed round alongside Brandon Capital in 2019, a relationship rooted in Sofinnova’s Maina Bhaman's own ties to Imperial College London. That early conviction carried through Myricx's £90 million ($114 million) Series A in 2024, led by Novo Holdings and Abingworth, which funded the build-out of the company's own laboratories and R&D team in London.
In July 2026, Myricx Bio agreed to be acquired by Novartis in a deal worth up to $1.5 billion, validating its NMTi-ADC platform and lead assets targeting B7-H3 and HER2 across a broad range of solid tumors.
Mohit Rawat
CEO - Myricx Bio
This acquisition is a tremendous endorsement of the leadership of our NMTi-ADC platform, and the insights, innovation and achievements of our founders and team towards our mission of providing more effective and better tolerated therapeutic options for cancer patients. Together with Novartis, we look forward to building upon our work to transform the landscape of cancer treatment.
£104mn
Total funding raised across seed (raised in October 2019) and Series A rounds in August 2023
67%
headcount increase following Series A-funded expansion
~$1.5bn
Exit deal with Novartis ($1.1B cash upfront plus up to $400M in milestones)
Key achievements
Developed a novel N-myristoyltransferase inhibitor (NMTi) ADC payload platform, a differentiated mechanism of action addressing tolerability and resistance limitations of existing ADC payload classes (TOPO-1, tubulin inhibitors)
Advanced a pipeline of NMTi-ADCs with lead assets against B7-H3 and HER2, targeting a broad range of solid tumor types
Acquired by Novartis for up to $1.5 billion, one of the largest ADC platform deals of 2026
Funding history
2019: Spun out of Imperial College London and the Francis Crick Institute; seed round co-led by Sofinnova Partners and Brandon Capital
Mid-2024: £90m ($114m) Series A led by Novo Holdings and Abingworth, joined by British Business Bank, Cancer Research Horizons, Eli Lilly, alongside existing investors Brandon Capital and Sofinnova Partners
Total raised to date: 104m£ (14m£ Seed and 90m£ series A)
Employment impact
Grew from a virtual company to a fully-fledged R&D organization with its own laboratories in London's King's Cross/Canary Wharf biotech hub
Series A financing (2024) funded expansion of management and R&D teams, adding roughly 15 employees
Current headcount: approximately 25 staff.
Investors
