Tessara Therapeutics Raises $2.7 Million to Develop Mimetic Brain Tissue

• Tessara™ Therapeutics Pty Ltd closed their Round 1 capital raise with $2.7M invested, significantly over-subscribed by Australian and New Zealand-based sophisticated investors.
• A New South Wales-based syndicate, including medical specialists and a neurosurgeon, led the round with just over half of the investment, and appointed a new director to the board.
• Tessara’s RealBrain™ technology – manufactured 3D human mimetic brain tissue – has applications in drug screening and in tissue replacement therapeutics.
• Tessara conducts a significant part of their R&D in collaboration with Australia’s CSIRO, and has partnered with Bio-Link Australia, to support execution of the Company’s product development and business development plans, respectively.
• Completion of Round 1 provides Tessara with sufficient capital to accelerate the achievement of their development milestones along dual commercial pathways.

Melbourne, Australia, 7th May 2020. Tessara Therapeutics Pty Ltd, a Melbourne-based biotechnology company developing human mimetic tissues, has closed its Round 1 capital raising in the amount of $2.7 million, significantly over-subscribed. Tessara’s RealBrain™ technology – manufactured 3D human mimetic brain tissue – has near-market applications as a drug discovery model, and longer- term applications as a tissue replacement therapy. Australian and New Zealand-based sophisticated investors participated, and a New South Wales syndicate led the round with approximately 55% of the investment. The NSW syndicate included several medical specialists who recognized the potential of the RealBrain™ technology as a breakthrough for the development of new drugs to treat neurological diseases with great unmet medical need.

Concurrent with the completion of the investment, Tessara has expanded its Board of Directors with the appointment of Phillip Smith, an investment strategist with over 30 years of experience in portfolio management in Australia and overseas. Mr Smith joins fellow board members Dr Christos Papadimitriou, CEO and Managing Director; Christopher Boyer, Director and Head of Corporate and Strategic Development; and Dr Greg Collier, Independent Chairman.

Mr Smith commented “We liked the team and the business model, and when the technology also resonated with the doctors, including a neurologist and neurosurgeon that we asked, it became clear that Tessara would be a good fit for our group of investors”.

Dr Collier remarked “I knew Tessara was investable from the first time I saw it. To close the round over-subscribed in the current economic environment is, in my view, indicative of the extraordinary potential of the Company and our innovative approach to breaking down the barriers that have long prevented the development of therapies for some of the most difficult neurological diseases.”

To enhance capital raising and business development capacity, Tessara has partnered with Bio-Link Australia Pty Ltd, a specialist biotechnology business development consultancy led by Dr Christian Toouli, Bio-Link Executive Director and Chief Commercial Officer of Tessara. Australia’s Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO) is working with Tessara on research and development for their RealBrain™ technology, assisting with aspects of biology, materials synthesis and process development. With the completion of the capital raising, Tessara is able to intensify their focus on execution of the business plan to develop and commercialise their innovative RealBrain™ drug discovery platform and therapeutic applications.

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About Tessara Therapeutics Pty Ltd

Tessara Therapeutics Pty Ltd is an Australian regenerative medicine company developing RealBrain™, a synthetic human brain micro-tissue for drug discovery and therapeutic uses.

Their business strategy is to offer to the global pharmaceutical industry the new gold standard in pre-clinical test systems for drug target identification, validation and characterisation of lead compounds for neurological and neurodegenerative diseases including Alzheimer’s Disease.

As a drug screening tool and a model of brain diseases, RealBrain™ aims to replace inadequate and expensive existing cell and animal models whose limitations have contributed to the cost and extensive failures in neuroscience drug development to date.

They have current interest from a number of substantial international drug development companies and expect revenues within two years.  Unlike many biotech companies, Tessara is not reliant on binary clinical trials results.

Tessara is led by experienced scientists and business developers and provides optionality via the longer-term upside opportunity to develop RealBrain™ as a cell therapy for Parkinson’s Disease and other neurological disorders.

RealBrain™ and Tessara™ are trademarks of Tessara Therapeutics Pty Ltd.

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