Short technical hiatus or, shall we say, mini-hiatus. While some of you may very well be maxi-fed up with mini-budget news, big update regarding all things EIS and SEIS. The EIS Sunset clause will be scrapped and SEIS will be extended from April 2023. In other words, among other improvements, companies will be able to raise up to £250,000 of SEIS investment, representing more than a 66% increase. One for the M&A wave, although this time non of the parts is UK-based. Roquefort Therapeutics Plc (London) has acquired Oncogeni Ltd (Stratford-Upon-Avon) for £5.5 million. Admittedly, I did not know about the Laboratory of the Government Chemistry until I learnt they have just opened a new 36,000 square feet facility at the Oxford Technology Park. The story of the company is remarkable. Booby Biome has raised a £1.3 million pre-seed round, including Innovate UK funding. The funding section has recently been sustained thanks to Biomedical Catalyst grants or similar, see Pear Bio, aTEN Therapeutics or AMPLY Discovery. More seed rounds, more acquisitions, less series A and B. At least, growth funds are stil raising, see EQT Growth and Northzone. Illumina Accelerator has picked its favourite six for the Fall program and 2/6 are in Britain. Storm Therapeutics has appointed Dr Jerry McMahon as CEO and so has done Zetta Genomics with Mark Bailey. Founder of Helix and PharmEnable, Prof Andreas Bender has joined a new techbio venture and Dotplothas been awarded UK Dyson Award for its ability to help detecting breast cancer. Friends, this is the 26th edition of Cambridge Biocapital, half a year breaking into your inbox with hopefully some useful content and context. The aim has always been bringing people together by making knowledge available so thank you so much to all of you who have joined up so far. Remember you can talk up your news or updates simply by replying to this email address, regardless of how big your company is and at no cost. This week music pick comes from the very first subscriber to Biocapital and, it cannot possibly be a better pick for this edition. Let’s dive in!

BoobyBiome has raised £1.3 million in equity and grant pre-seed funding. The round was led by Venrex Management LLP and participated by Discovery Park Venture, the Discovery Park’s investment arm, and the angel investor Simon Galbraith of Cade Hill Investments. BoobyBiome is developing a novel product for babies who do not have access to the beneficial microbiome in breast milk. BoobyBiome has also been awarded Biomedical Catalyst non-dilutive funding by Innovate UK to collaborate with the Centre for Process Innovation (CPI)

Stitch has raised £2.2 million seed funding. The round was led by Connect Ventures and participated by Form Ventures, Boost Capital and other angel investors. Stitch is developing a platform to help patients manage their experience during clinical trials. The platform allows to improve trial design and patient retention while allowing participants to share feedback with sponsors.

Pear Bio, in collaboration with King’s College Hospital NHS Foundation Trust, has secured a Biomedical Catalyst grant from Innovate UK. The proceedings of the grant will be used to advance Pear Bio’s non-Clinical Trial for Investigational Medicinal Product (non-CTIMP) observational study to evaluate prospective patient derived resectable pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDAC) and hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) samples. The research will address mechanistic validity of Pear Bio’s organ on a chip and computer vision-enabled platform by testing PDAC & HCC samples against a range of indications including immunotherapy.

Edinburgh-based aTen Therapeutics has been awarded £282,740 from Innovate UK to collaborate with Anglia Ruskin University to accelerate the development of ATN—E11. ATN-E11 is a human monoclonal antibody targeting the angiotensin—II type I receptor (AT1R), which is over-expressed in a range of different cancers. The drug candidate is initially designed for breast cancer and the collaboration hopes to progress the drug towards clinical trials.

Queens University Belfast-spinout AMPLY Discovery has been granted £900,000 from Innovate UK. Prior to this, AMPLY has raised equity funding from Co-fund NI, which is managed by Clarendon Fund Managers and supported by Invest NI and the British Business Bank, the QUBIS Innovation Fund, the Helix Way Partnership, and angel investment from members of the Halo Business Angel Network (HBAN). The proceedings of the funding will be used to develop new anti-infective products utilising AI and machine-learning enabled-techniques. The project will start with bovine mastitis.

LetsGetChecked has raised $20 million Series D-2 from Casidin Capital, Transformation Capital and Morgan Health, the healthcare arm of JPMorgan Chase. LetsGetChecked provides at home clinical solutions covering the full spectrum of patient care, including diagnostic testing, virtual consultations and medication delivery. The company operates in UK, US and EU.

Cambridge-based TTP Ventus has been acquired by The Lee Company, ****a US-based precision fluidics business. TPP Ventus develops and manufactures silent piezoelectric micropump technology for medical devices and beyond (e.g air quality control). TTP Ventus was founded in 2017 by the TTP Group. Financial details have not been disclosed.

Caerphilly-based Biological Preparations has raised a £3.9 million funding line from HSBC UK to support its growth plans. The proceedings of the debt funding will allow to build a 700 square feet chemistry lab, creating 10 new jobs and fuelling grow 20% over the next year. Biological Preparations focuses on replacing non-renewable chemicals with adaptive biotechnology that cleans, disinfects and protects a range of environments.

Stratford-Upon-Avon-based Oncogeni Ltd  has been acquired by London-based Roquefort Therapeutics PLC for £5.5 million. In addition, Roquefort has issued 50 million new ordinary shares to the shareholders of Oncogeni. Oncogeni brings a pre-clinical anti-cancer portfolio that is patent protected and fully funded to clinical trial submission. Following up the acquisition, Roquefort aims to have one of its oncological pre-clinical assets clinic ready by the second half of 2023.

Mini-budget in a nutshell: ain’t mini. Key points of relevance for the tech/bio ecosystem. The EIS Sunset clause will be scrapped, SEIS extended from April 2023, and companies will be able to raise up to £250,000 of SEIS investment (over 60% increase). The company age rises from 2 to 3 years and the anual investor limit doubles to £200,0000. The corporation tax will remain at 19% (instead of the suggested 25% figure). Pensions schemes will have greater flexibilityto invest in innovative British businesses. IR35 changes will be repealed from April 2023 meaning that companies will have greater freedom to hire freelancers and contractors. Last, the mini-budget has unveiled plans to launch a £500 million Long-Term Investment for Technology & Science (LIFTS) competition. More details here.

Illumina Accelerator has announced the six companies joining the Fall program: Viridian Seeds (next-generation sustainable protein crops with novel traits to reduce biotic and abiotic stress tolerance; operations in UK, Ireland and US); Dama Health (precision screening to identify the most suitable contraception type and formulation for women, London-based); Acrobat Genomics (high-throughput CRISPR gene editing precision technology, US-based), Nusantics Pte(microbiome-related diagnostic tools for Asian population, Indonesia-based), Pandora Biosciences (genetically diverse organoid-based disease models, South Africa-based); Terrapeutics Pharma (novel small therapeutic molecules from soil, Jerusalem-based). Illumina Accelerator is accepting applications for the next funding cycle (deadline: October 1, 2022).

The University of Edinburgh has announced the selected startups for its artificial intelligence accelerator organised by its Innovation Hub for Data Science and Artificial Intelligence. Out of the 12 winners, two UK-based medtech and biotech startup have been selected: Medkal Health (remote patient monitoring platform for patient data validation, Stirling-based); Microplate Dx (University of Strathclyde-spinout developing AI-powered diagnostic test for antibiotic indication, Glasgow-based).

BBSRC’s strategic Longer and Larger (sLoLa) grants programme is going to fund five teams with over £19 million to support research on fundamental questions in biomedical sciences. These are the selected projects: investigating the role of specialised ribosomes in regulating gene expression (led by Dr Julie Aspden, University of Leeds); discovering and improving of new plastic-degrading enzymes (led by Prof Florian Hollfelder, University of Cambridge); understanding bacterial immune systems in the context of anti-microbial research (led by Prof Edze Westra, University of Exeter); establishing how light is used to catalyse enzymatic reactions (led by Prof Nigel Scrutton, University of Manchester); and learning how an ancient universal membrane repair system functions (led by Prof Gavin Thomas, University of York).

Northzone has raised €1 billion multi-stage fund. The Fund X will invest checks from $1 to 40 million in health-tech, SaaS, consumer and fintech startups from seed to IPO. Fund X follows $500 million Fund IX raised in 2019. Northzone was funded in 1996 and has operations in London, New York, Stockholm, Amsterdam and Berlin. The fund has backed in the past companies such Aidence, Idoven or  Medwing.

EQT Growth has raised €2.2 billion fund, becoming one of the largest Europe-based first-time growth funds. The Fund seeks to invest €50 to €200 million in enterprise, con/prosumer, health, and climate startups with operations in Europe and Israel. Current EQT portfolio includes Artios Pharma, Aviado Bio, Binx Health, IVC Evidensia, Lumeon and SPT Labtech. Remarkably, out of the 12 current investments in the UK, 6 belong to the healthcare area. Investment in European technology companies has grown from $20 billion in 2017 to over $100 billion in 2021, but European-based investors only represent 30% of investors in growth-stage rounds in 2021. EQT has €77 billion assets under management (AUM) across 36 active funds.

Octopus Investments has launched a £20 million joint fundraising for two AIM Venture Capital Trusts (VTC). These products will be made of up to 90 companies across various sectors such pharmaceuticals, biotech, healthcare, software development and clean-tech. VCTs can enable investors to receive 30% income tax relief, tax free growth and tax-free dividends.

The Francis Crick Institute and GSK have extended their ongoing collaboration in target discovery thanks to a Prosperity Partnership’ grant from the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC) and matching funds from GSK, totalling £11.5 million. The collaboration aims to develop and scale up emerging technology in chemical biology based upon reactive fragment screening (RFS). Research shows genetically validated targets are at least twice as likely to become registered medicines. Thus, tools are required to demonstrate that ligands (i.e. potential drugs) can have a disease-modifying effect upon binding their target. RFS platforms identify ligands through screening with purified protein and by chemoproteomic profiling in cells. This technology could enable protein targets to be advanced into full drug discovery at a faster pace and with higher levels of confidence than previously possible.

Oxford-based SynaptixBio has signed a licensing agreement with the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia (CHOP). The license enables SynaptixBio to advance the research on TUBB4a leukodystrophy started at the CHOP. TUBB4a leukodystrophy is a rare (1 in 7,663 births), incurable and lethal disease caused by a mutation in the TUBB4A gene, which disrupts myelin surrounding nerves, leading to interruption of the signals between brain nerve cells. SynaptixBio expects to bring into clinical trials in 2024 the Antisense Oligonucleotides (ASOs) discovered by CHOPS as a potential treatment for the disease.

Aberdeen-based Elasmogen has entered a global license agreement with Intract Pharma for Soteria and Phloral Technologies. The license grants Elasmogen exclusive access to these technologies to develop therapeutic proteins for an undisclosed target for treatment of Crohn’s disease and ulcerative colitis. The drug is expected to be orally bioavailable and will be developed using Elasmogen’s proprietary soloMER platform. Intract will receive an undisclosed upfront payment followed by development milestone payments and royalties on product sales. Elasmogen will have the option to expand the license agreement for up to four additional targets. This agreement build on previous collaboration (2020) that involved pre-clinical evaluation of Soteria and Phloral technologies using Elasmogen’s multi-valent inflammatory cytokine binding soloMER protein therapeutics.

Pangea has launched PangeAI, a AI-based natural product discovery platform. The challenge is to assemble one of the world's largest datasets of natural products with the aim of discovering novel small molecules with therapeutic value. In addition, Pangea has appointed Prof Andreas Bender (founder of Healx and PharmEnable) as Chief Technology Officer and Sona Chandra (co-founded Oshi Health, ex-**Takeda Pharmaceutical’**s Digital team) as President. They both join as co-founders.

Qureight has been granted ISO13485 certification which allows the company to use its quality management system (QMS) for the design of medical devices. The certification is a significant milestone for Qureight as it a step forward in obtaining full regulatory clearance and allows for integration with clinical trial procedures. The company is applying AI-enabled lung image analysis in the treatment of severe respiratory diseases.

Ori Biotech and CMT have partnered to accelerate accelerate process development, clinical implementation, and commercialization of cell therapies. The partnership will combine Ori’s technology platform with CTMC’s manufacturing capabilities. At first, it will focus on a cell therapy developed by Prof Sattva Neelapu (MD Anderson). The partnership enables CTMC pre-commercial access to Ori’s technology as part of its LightSpeed Early Access Program (LEAP).

Dotplot has been awarded UK Dyson Award for its ability to help detecting breast cancer. The Dotplot aims to help women self-check at home and track any changes they may find on an app. Users build a personalised map of their torso by inputting their breast size and shape and pressing the handheld device over their chest. Once a month, soundwaves are used to record tissue composition. Breast cancer is the second most common cause of cancer death in the UK.

The Royal Papworth Hospital (Cambridge) has started EVOLUTION, a clinical trial to detected if exhaled breath can be used for the early diagnosis of lung cancer. The trial is testing Cambridge Science Park-based Owlstone Medicaltechnology and aims to recruit 25 patients positive for lung cancer and 25 healthy volunteers. The volunteers are given a liquid solution containing a metabolic probe that is administered intravenously and travels around the body. When it reacts with a lung tumour, it causes the release of ethanol. Then, volunteers breathe into a mask collecting the ethanol. Both the mask and the eVOC probe (Exogenous Volatile Organic Compound) have been developed by Owlstone.

Fierce Biotech has announced its Fierce 15 index 2022. In short, 12 US-based and 3 UK-based. In alphabetic order: Agomab Therapeutics (ALK inhibitors for Crohn disease*,* US), Amphista Therapeutics (next generation of targeted protein degraders*,* UK), Arbor Biotechnologies (genomic editors for genetic-driven diseases in the liver and the central nervous system, US), Aviado Bio (gene therapy for frontotemporal dementia and amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, UK), Generate Biomedicines (machine learning to create novel proteins with focus on oncology, immunology and infectious diseases, US), Lexeo Therapeutics (adeno-associated virus-based gene therapy for genetically defined cardiovascular and central nervous system diseases*,* US), LifeMine Therapeutics (artificial-intelligence-powered drug discovery platform that scours the sequenced genomes of fungi, US), Recode Therapeutcis (mRNA-based therapies for diseases beyond the liver such as primary ciliary dyskinesia and cystic fibrosis, US), Scorpion Therapeutics (precision oncology using small molecules*,* US), Shape Therapeutics (RNA editing to develop breakthrough gene therapies that do not permanently change a person’s DNA, US), Storm Therapeutics (RNA-modifying enzyme inhibitors for oncology, UK), Strand Therapeutics (synthetic biology leveraging mRNA-based medicines beyond vaccines, US), Synthekine (engineered cytokines to tackle autoimmunity*,* US), Verge Genomics (AI-enabled drug discovery for neurodegenerative diseases, US), Volastra (harnessing the predictive power of chromosomal instability to treat cancer*,* US).

Storm Therapeutics has appointed Dr Jerry McMahon as Chief Executive Offcier and Board Director. Dr McMahon was President and CEO of NASDAQ-listed Harpoon Therapeutics, which he has led from early stage to IPO. Prior to that, he was President and CEO of Kolltan Pharmaceuticals (acquired by Celldex), Senior Vice President of Oncology at Medimmune (acquired by AstraZeneca), among others renior roles in biotech and pharma. The appointment aims to leverage McMahon’s experience in clinical and public market experience in the US. Storm Therapeutics is developing therapies that inhibit RNA modifying enzymes for use in oncology and other diseases. IND has been filled with the FDA for METTL3 inhibitor (STC-15) to support initiation of Phase 1 clinical trial in 2022. STC-15 represents the first RNA modifying enzyme inhibitor to enter clinical evaluation in humans. Storm is backed by M Ventures, Pfizer Ventures, Taiho Ventures, Cambridge Innovation Capital, Seroba Life Sciences, IP Group, Fast Track Initiative and the University of Tokyo Innovation Platform.

Zetta Genomics has appointed Mark Bailey as Chief Executive Officer (CEO). Bailey joins from Fendix Media where he was CEO, a company that helps National Health Service trusts and health boards generate revenue from digital advertising. Prior to Fendix, he held senior roles at Cegedim and Sciensus. Zetta Genomics raised £2.5 million seed funding in February 2022. Recently, it has moved into a 1,038 square feet facility in Ravenscroft House (Cambridge). The company is working to make genomic medicine widely available by providing cost effective solutions for the analysis of genomic data at massive scale. Zetta has taken part in the creation of the database underpinning Genomics England’s’ 100000 Genome project.

Dunad Therapeutics has appointed Ruben Tommasi, PhD as Chief Research and Development Office. Tommasi joins from Entasis Therapeutics, an AstraZeneca spin-out company developing precision antibacterial therapies, where he was Head of Infectious Disease Chemistry. Prior to AstraZeneca, he carried out senior roles at Novartis and has 30 years of industry and biotech experience. Dunad is developing orally-bioavailable small molecule covalent therapies leveraging chemistry and protein degradation. The company was founded in 2020. Currently, it is backed by Epidarex Capital, BioGenration Ventures, and Novartis, and has operations in Cambridge (UK), Masachussets and Toronto.

Coulter Partners has appointed Justine McIlroy as Client Partner (London-based). McIlroy will focus on Pharmaceuticals, Biotech, Life Sciences, specialised generics, consumer health, Agtech and Food Tech industries. She has worked as banker for SG Cowen advising biotech on cross-border M&A and at Brunswick Group as co-led the international healthcare team.

Abcam PLC (AIM: ABC; NASDAQ: ABCM) has appointed Luba Greenwood as a non-executive Director. Currently, Greenwood serves as managing partner of the Dana Farber Cancer Institute Venture Fund, Binney Street Capital(BSC), which she launched. In addition, she is CEO of Kojin Therapeutics, a BSC portfolio company and has held senior roles at Google Life Sciences, Verily and F. Hoffman-La Roche.

Macomics has appointed Dr Valérie Méresse Naegelen to its Panel of Clinical Advisors. Currently, Dr Méresse is Global Head of Translational Sciences Oncology at the Pharma Division of Roche and has over 20 years of experience in research and clinical development of small and large molecule compounds for various indications in oncology.

Qureight has appointed Dr Xose Fernandez to its Scientific Advisory Board. Dr Fernandez brings over 25 years of experience in digital innovation. He was Chief Data Officer at Institut Curie in Paris and has worked in a number of large project aiming to improving the use of data in cancer.

LGC has opened a new 36,000 square feet facility at the Oxford Technology Park (OTP). The facility will host The Native Antigen Company (TNAC) and an advanced workflow applications laboratory for LGC Biosearch Technologies. The laboratory was inaugurated by Dame Sarah Gilbert DBE and Teresa Lambe OBE, inventors of the Oxford/AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine. The TNAC team now based at the OTP was one of the first companies globally to offer antigens for SARS-COV-2. Currently they produce over 900 viral and infectious disease products, focusing on Coronavirus, Dengue, Cytomegalovirus, Zika, Chikungunya and Clostridium difficile. LGC started in 1842 when the Laboratory of the Board of Excise was founded in the City of London to regulate the adulteration of tobacco. To date, LGC host the unique function of ‘Government Chemist’. The Laboratory of the Government Chemistry was privatised in 1996 and renamed LGC. Nowadays it is owned by Cinven, Astorg and ADIA.

Nottingham-based Quotien Sciences, a drug development and manufacturing accelerator, has expanded its laboratory and clinical capacity to support drug development programs through the Quotien's flagship platform, Translational Pharmaceutics. The new Nottingham facility includes a 17,000 sq ft, MHRA-inspected clinical pharmacology facility. The Reading site has been possible upon raising £1.5 million and has allowed to double its formulation development and analytical footprint.

Cancer Research Horizons is celebrating the UK’s most innovative efforts to translate scientific discoveries into benefits for cancer patients. Awards open for nomination include early-career entrepreneur of the year, woman entrepreneur of the year, new startup of the year, startup achievement of the year, and “Further, Faster, Together” in the context of Industry-Academia collaboration. Nominations close on October, 28.

Centessa Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ: CNTA) has been granted Orphan Drug Designation by the US FDA for its SerpinPC for the treatment of Hemophilia B. SerpinPC is a biological inhibitor of activated protein C (APC). It allows more thrombin to be generated by inhibiting APC, thus rebalancing coagulation in hemophilia patients. In the highest dose cohort, SerpinPC demonstrated an 88% reduction in median Annualised Bleeding Rate (ABR) for all bleeds and a 94% reduction in median ABR for spontaneous joint bleeds.

AstraZeneca has been granted approval for Imfinzi (durvalumab) by the US FDA. Imfinzi is indicated for the treatment of adult patients with locally advanced or metastatic biliary tract cancer (BTC) in combination with chemotherapy (gemcitabine plus cisplatin). Approval follows results from the TOPAZ-1 Phase III trial. Imfinzi plus chemotherapy reduced the risk of death by 20% versus chemotherapy alone, regardless of tumour location or PD-L1 expression. BTC is a group of rare and aggressive cancers that occur in the bile ducts and gallbladder. Patients have a poor prognosis, with approximately 5% to 15% of patients with BTC surviving five years. Regulatory applications are also currently under review in Europe, Japan and several other countries.

Adaptimmune Therapeutics PLC (NASDAQ: ADAP) has announced positive data from its signal-finding Phase 1 SURPASS trial. The trial has achieved 44% Objective Response Rate (ORR) with a single dose of ADP-A2M4CD8 (CD8 TCR T-cell) in 25 heavily pre-treated patients with late-stage ovarian, urothelial, and head & neck cancers.

What did VC do before they became VCs? According to data from Vauban, 24.7% of investors were previously founders, 16.6% worked for a company carrying on senior roles, and only 1.8% were startup operators. And yet, these figures are controversial.

CRISPR has shown to be effective in treating blood-related diseases ex vivo (i.e. cells taken from the patient, modified and returned to the patient). In vivo approach for blindness disorders (i.e. gene editor injected into the eye) is showing promising results. But what about directing CRISPR machinery to specific organs/cells via intravenous infusion? Ladies and gentleman, Intelia.

The number of startups in the Golden Triangle grew by 44% (2016-2020) compared to earlier in the decade. In the same time period, the rest of the country saw an average biotech startup growth of just 3%. And yet, what are the alternative biotech hubs beyond the Golden Triangle?

Curious about Biden’s executive order on Advancing Biotechnology and Biomanufacturing Innovation for Sustainable, Safe and Secure American Bioeconomy.  Have a look here.

Stevenage Bioscience Catalyst has become the first science park in the UK to sign up to the Warp It reuse platform.

Filling for IPO six months after launching: Third Harmonic Bio.