St George Street (SGS) is a UK-based medical-charity led by a group of highly decorated academics and ex-pharma executives formed to deliver much needed treatments to patients. SGS’s strategy is to take clinical-ready assets from pharmaceutical companies and to progress them through Phase II medical trials, before licensing them on for Phase III trials and commercialisation in order to create a return for investors and the charity alike.

Under an agreement entered into in August 2019, SGS has acquired the right to develop and commercialise two assets from a major global pharmaceutical company, one of which includes the licence to a drug that could be beneficial to diabetic patients suffering with COVID-19 (the “Asset”). Diabetics have significantly higher mortality compared with non-diabetic patients in COVID-19 and in clinical studies this drug, SGS002, has been found to be safe in almost 1,000 patients with diabetes and has a blood glucose lowering effect for four months. Blood glucose control has been proposed as a key factor in reducing complications from COVID-19 in diabetics.

SGS is proposing to recruit up to 150 patients for a clinical trial to test SGS002, which it estimates will take 5 months to complete. SGS is working to a compressed timescale given the urgency of the COVID-19 situation and anticipates reaching clinical stage in early May 2021.

Vela paid £2.35m for an 8% economic interest. Following the transaction SGS holds 9.37% of Vela