Alvarez & Marsal working on restructuring and sale of TC BioPharm
Once tipped to be Scotland’s first $1 billion company quoted on the Nasdaq stock exchange, Scottish cell therapy company TC BioPharm has collapsed into administration. No redundancies have been announced, while professionals from Alvarez & Marsal oversee the sale of the business.
Founded by entrepreneur Angela Scott in Edinburgh, back in 2014, TC BioPharm initially generated an eightfold return for its angel investors, after its parent company was listed on the Nasdaq stock exchange in New York in 2022. Floating with a $119.25 million valuation, it raised $17.5m to finance clinical trials – with the IPO enabling Investing Women Angels (IWA) to become the first Scottish angel group to achieve a Nasdaq exit.
Operating from an advanced R&D facility in Motherwell, it has built a small team of highly skilled employees, including world-class scientists, supported by a dedicated and experienced leadership team with deep sector experience and strong relationships in the US and Europe. TC BioPharm has since become known as an early developer of allogeneic Gamma-Delta T-Cell therapies, pioneering their use for the treatment of Acute Myeloid Leukemia. It also became the first company to conduct Phase II clinical studies in AML using Gamma-Delta T Cells.
Unfortunately, undertaking such important work in the private sector comes with its own limitations. This development phase was forecast to not generate revenues for several years – and incurred considerable expenditures in research and development activities and in conducting clinical trials. While TC BioPharm managed to raise approximately £100 million from shareholders since its incorporation, concerns grew over its continuation as a going concern.
Downfall
Scott resigned as a director in 2023 and in May this year it was delisted from Nasdaq. Months later, it emerged that the group had just £1.1 million of cash on hand of £1.1 million. A Companies House filing reported by Daily Business Group found that “unless TCBH is able to secure alternative sources of capital, which it is currently exploring, it will not be able to continue to finance or support the company.”
Its fall into administration has seen Michael Magnay and Rob Croxen of Alvarez & Marsal appointed to oversee a sale process of the TC BioPharm company and its assets. No immediate redundancies are being made while the joint administrators undertake a rapid sale of the business.
Michael Magnay, joint administrator, commented, “TC BioPharm is a pioneering, clinical-stage cell therapy company with an experienced and highly skilled team. As joint administrators, our priority is to run a sale process at pace, and we encourage any parties interested in acquiring the business and assets, which include the intellectual property, to reach out to us as soon as possible.”
