PureTech Health is a London-listed biotech that invents drugs, then moves them into separately financed companies. Its model produced Cobenfy, a schizophrenia drug whose early backing of $18.5m returned about $1.1bn in cash. Since then the company has funded its next drug, deupirfenidone, largely alone, and cash has fallen from $367m to $220m. It is now shrinking its own cost base and seeking outside money earlier, and the shares at about 111p are half their March 2024 level of 222p.
A drug inventor that hands programs to outside investors
PureTech finds drug candidates with proven pharmacology, tests them cheaply at the 'hub', then moves the best into 'Founded Entities' funded mainly by outside investors. It keeps equity, royalties and milestones. The company says its engine has produced dozens of candidates, three of them FDA-approved.
Today's portfolio has four parts. Celea Therapeutics (35.4% owned) develops deupirfenidone, an improved version of the pill pirfenidone, for idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF), a fatal lung-scarring disease. Gallop Oncology (100%) develops LYT-200, an antibody for high-risk myelodysplastic syndrome, a blood cancer. Seaport Therapeutics (31.2%, Nasdaq-listed) makes brain medicines, such as GlyphAllo for depression, using a platform that carries drugs through the lymphatic system. From Karuna, PureTech keeps milestone payments and a 2% royalty on Cobenfy sales above $2bn a year. Small legacy stakes include Vedanta, Sonde and Entrega. 22 Sep 2026 28 Aug 2025
Karuna's $14bn sale and cash for shareholders
Bristol Myers Squibb agreed in December 2023 to buy Karuna, the PureTech-founded company behind Cobenfy, for $14bn. The deal closed in March 2024. PureTech received about $293m for its shares, and total cash from Karuna reached about $1.1bn.
PureTech returned $150m to shareholders: a $50m buyback and a $100m tender offer at 250p a share in June 2024. Cobenfy won FDA approval in September 2024, which paid PureTech $29m in milestones. The shares peaked at 234p in May 2024 and fell to 147p by September. 22 Dec 2023 18 Mar 2024 19 Mar 2024 24 Jun 2024 27 Sep 2024
A good drug and a funding gap
In December 2024 deupirfenidone met its Phase 2b goals. Over 26 weeks lung capacity fell by 21.5 mL, against 112.5 mL on placebo and 51.6 mL on pirfenidone. In April 2025 the then-CEO said the cash balance would not fully fund a Phase 3 trial, so outside capital was needed.
The year then turned harder. Nordic Capital approached PureTech about a takeover in April 2025 and withdrew after the Board rejected it. Vedanta's VE202 colitis trial missed its main goal in August 2025. The CEO and the Chair left in July 2025, and Robert Lyne became interim CEO. Celea was launched in August 2025 to raise outside money, and the FDA cleared the Phase 3 design in December 2025.
The timetable slipped. Phase 3 was meant to start by the end of 2025 (April 2025). It then moved to the first half of 2026 (August 2025). Celea's financing target went from early 2026 (December 2025) to early Q3 2026 (April 2026). The shares ended 2025 at 125p. 16 Dec 2024 30 Apr 2025 7 Apr 2025 7 Apr 2025 13 Aug 2025 16 Jul 2025 8 Jul 2025 12 Aug 2025 28 Aug 2025 8 Dec 2025 18 Dec 2025 29 Apr 2026
2026: outside money arrives
Seaport raised about $260m in a Nasdaq IPO in May 2026 at $18 a share, at the top of its range. PureTech's 31.2% was worth about $360m on 18 September.
Celea closed a $180m round in July 2026, led by RA Capital and Leaps by Bayer. PureTech put in $30m and reserved up to $70m more. It keeps 35.4% of Celea, 1-3% royalties, up to $190m of milestones and 20% of sublicense income. Celea dosed the first patient in the Phase 3 SURPASS-IPF trial on 13 July. The trial is head-to-head against pirfenidone, covers about 1,100 patients and reads out in the second half of 2029. PureTech also delisted its US-traded shares from Nasdaq to cut cost, keeping the London listing. 1 May 2026 2 Jul 2026 2 Jul 2026 13 Jul 2026 22 Sep 2026 29 Apr 2026
What worked and what did not
The model paid off when outside capital came in early and a partner bought the asset. Karuna and Seaport show this. Deupirfenidone shows the cost of going the other way: PureTech carried it through expensive stages itself, and cash fell about $90m between the end of 2024 and mid-2026. Management now says it will seek external capital earlier. Setbacks include the failed Vedanta trial and a Phase 3 start that slipped by half a year.
Investors also pushed back. More than 20% of votes went against remuneration or director re-election at the August 2024 and December 2025 AGMs. 22 Sep 2026 28 Aug 2024 10 Dec 2025 28 Aug 2025
“We expect capital returns to play a more meaningful role in our allocation of future proceeds than they have historically.” 22 Sep 2026
A new team, with some buying of its own shares
Robert Lyne has run the company since July 2025 and was confirmed as CEO in December 2025. He replaced Bharatt Chowrira, who led PureTech through the Karuna sale. Raju Kucherlapati stepped down as Chair after nearly two decades. Sharon Barber-Lui became interim Chair and is leading the search for a successor. Sven Dethlefs, a former Teva North America head, runs Celea. Daphne Zohar runs Seaport.
Lyne bought 81,051 shares in September 2025. Directors and senior staff bought a further 147,849 in July 2026. Briarwood Chase Management disclosed 10.1% in 2026 and Tang Capital 7.1%. Baillie Gifford fell to 4.81% in December 2025. 16 Jul 2025 8 Jul 2025 18 Dec 2025 24 Sep 2025 9 Jul 2026 8 May 2026 7 Oct 2026 25 Sep 2026 10 Dec 2025
Leaner, with a shorter cash cushion
At 30 June 2026 PureTech held $220m in cash and short-term investments, down from $277m at the end of 2025. Management says this lasts at least to the end of 2028, a figure that assumes the full $70m reserve for Celea is used. The $220m excludes $17.5m of PureTech's $30m Celea investment, still to be paid after the half-year. Half-year operating costs were $55.9m, up from $49.8m. They included deupirfenidone costs that moved to Celea after the July financing, which management expects to cut spending.
The shares closed October 2026 at 111p. 22 Sep 2026 2 Jul 2026
Gallop's funding and Seaport's readouts decide the next year
Management has pushed back the date for funding Gallop. In December 2025 it said it was pursuing financing 'in 2026'. In April 2026 it targeted a close in the first quarter of 2027. In September 2026 it said it expects to secure the capital in the first half of 2027. That money would fund the Phase 2 STRIDE-MDS trial of about 125 patients, after an FDA end-of-Phase 1 meeting and Fast Track status for LYT-200.
Seaport expects Phase 2b depression data for GlyphAllo in the first half of 2027. Its GlyphAgo anxiety trials report in early 2028 and by the end of 2028. Celea reads out in 2029. PureTech aims to advance at least three new opportunities a year and plans to say more about its innovation work in the first half of 2027. It says capital returns will matter more in how it uses future proceeds, and it has not set an amount. 21 Sep 2026 29 Apr 2026 18 Dec 2025 22 Sep 2026 9 Sep 2026 7 Oct 2026 13 Jul 2026
Written by AI from PureTech Health's own announcements since Oct 2023 · every paragraph links to its sources