Malin invests €31m in Melinta Therapeutics

Life sciences-focused investment firm Malin has invested $35m (€31m) for a minority stake in US-based drug development firm Melinta Therapeutics.

The move marks Malin’s first investment since its successful initial public offering in March, which raised €330m. There are now eight operating assets under the Malin portfolio and the company has committed to invest a further $10m in Melinta in the next year.

Malin grew out of Dublin-based firm Brandon Point Industries. It is backed by Woodford Investment Management and the Irish Strategic Investment Fund, and has numerous former Elan senior executives including former CEO, Kelly Martin on its board of directors.

One of its directors and appointee to the Melinta board Sean Murphy said this transaction will enable Malin’s investors to gain access to “another high quality, privately-held, late-stage life-science asset with strong foundational science, and a deep discovery platform.”

Malin is effectively joining with Melinta’s founding investor, Vatera Healthcare Partners, and other existing investors in a series-4 funding round of up to $67m.

“We are delighted to lead this financing round which will help Melinta’s first-class management team complete phase-3 development of its innovative antibiotic, delafloxacin, later this year and to develop and progress its strong and differentiated multiple product pipeline targeting drug-resisting pathogens in infectious diseases,” Mr Murphy added.

Commenting on the funding, Melinta Therapeutics chief executive Mary Szela said: “We will use the capital raised in this funding round to fund our operations through a number of key milestones, including our first US regulatory submission for delafloxacin, which we believe holds great promise for a therapeutic solution to the global health crisis of increasingly resistant bacterial infections.”

“With limited development of new antibiotics over the past 40 years, there is a significant and urgent medical need for new and novel therapeutic options,” she added.

Before the flotation Malin intends to invest in lifescience firms who see trade sales or initial public offerings as premature moves, and has nearly 10 targets already identified. An initial €100m of investment will cover these, with a further €130m available.