Ebb & Flow

If many U.K. investors won't pony up enough money to allow well-capitalized drug development, Cyclacel isn't going to go hat-in-hand trying to explain why it needs more. Instead, the company has chosen to go to international investors with a better understanding of the capital intensity of drug development, raising £34 million ($46.9 million) last week in a pre-IPO round that gave the cancer company an estimated post-money value of just over $90 million.

"In drug discovery terms, $50 million is probably about the right size for a series C round," CEO Spiro Rombotis told Ebb & Flow. "So although the size is big for Europe, I am most excited about being in the competitive range of U.S. companies." ...