Roy Vagelos! Friends, Regeneron's legendary chairman is retiring at age 93. Vagelos rescued the company at a rather difficult time and leaves the seat to the company co-founders. Schleifer and Yancopoulos will need to navigate a no less challenging competitive landscape for its key drug Eylea. Rare edition this busy week as we discuss not one, but two events in the antimicrobial space. There has been some talk after GSK started dropping some of its cell therapy pipeline, but one has to give it up for this British pharma as it has not surrendered from investigating new antibiotics. The company has reported positive results for gepotidacin clinical trials, an investigational oral antibiotic for uncomplicated urinary tract infections in female adults and adolescents. Moreover, 30 Technology has completed the sale of its antimicrobial nitric oxide platform in certain applications to Convatec Group Plc (LSE: CTEC) for £45 million, with further potential payments of up to £131 million. Nitric oxide is critical to immunity, tissue healing, and blood oxygenation, and 30 Technology is the first to successfully develop and patent a novel platform technology that can safely deliver high-dose nitric oxide for sustained periods in multiple formulations.

More on critical matters: currently, 4% of the world's population (approx. 300 million people) are thought to be suffering from over 80 different autoimmune conditions. Thus, Innovate UK has granted £2 million to Maxion Therapeutics to advance its Knotbody platform to take up the autoimmune diseases challenge. Back home, it takes circa 14 weeks to book a consultant-led elective care NHS medical appointment. Scan.com has raised $12 million Series A to significantly reduce these dramatic waiting times by connecting patients with scanning centers covering MRI, ultrasound, CT, and X-ray. Worry not, there are also some good news on the NHS front: the NHS Blood and Transplant has inaugurated a £10 million Clinical Biotechnology Centre facility in Bristol, and the Somerset NHS Foundation Trust has inaugurated its new Macular Treatment Centre in Taunton. The UK Government is keeping up with homework and has appointed seven Non-Executive members to the new Department for Science, Innovation, and Technology Start-Up Board, including Prof Jason Chin (ConstructiveBio founder), Shonnel Malani (Managing Partner at Advent International), and Baroness Alison Wolf CBE (Professor at King's College London, cross-bench House of Lords Peer). One for gene-edited food, sorry luddites. Congratulations to Tropic as its non-browning gene-edited banana has achieved production approval in the Philippines. This week's Interesting Readings section is a place to call home: the FDA has approved the first allogenic stem cell transplant therapy, David Baker's lab has published an amazing paper on designing complex protein nanomaterials using a top-down reinforcement learning-based design approach, and the no less legendary Cathy Friedman (Partner at GV, formerly Google Ventures) tells us her reasons to be excited about the 2023 investment landscape. Also, Google and DeepMind have partnered to double down on brain research and have formed Google DeepMind —I know, how on earth have they not called it DeepBrain?—. This week I have asked one of you to pick the song of the week and (sigh…) what a fantastic pick. No spoilers, just scroll down to discover the artist. Arts by Picasso, Mondrian, and Kandinsky at the National Gallery. Let's dive in!

💸 Oxford-based Caristo Diagnostics has secured $16.3 million Series A to further develop its CaRi-Heart technology, an AI-assisted diagnostic and risk prediction tool for cardiac care.

• The investment was led by Oxford Science Enterprises and participated by BGF Ventures, Oxford Investment Consultants and Longwall Venture Partners.
• Caristo has developed a portfolio of imaging-based and AI-assisted platforms to aid the prediction and diagnosis of heart attack, stroke, and diabetes.
• The CaRi-Heart technology uses AI algorithms to help healthcare professionals predict and prevent future heart attacks by measuring coronary inflammation from routine cardiac computed tomography angiography (CCTA) scans using Caristo's Fat Attenuation Index (FAI) technology.
• The resulting FAI Score measures the risk of cardiac mortality due to coronary inflammation, while CaRi-Heart provides a long-term cardiac mortality risk by integrating coronary inflammation with standard clinic risk factors and the presence of coronary plaques.
• The company aims to use the funds to expand its presence in major global markets.

‍

💸 London-based 30 Technology has completed the sale of its antimicrobial nitric oxide platform in certain applications to Convatec Group Plc (LSE: CTEC) for £45 million, with further potential payments of up to £131 million upon the achievement of specific regulatory approvals and commercial milestones.

• The sale encompasses all wound care assets, research and development and commercial applications of the technology related to the topical treatment of chronic and acute wounds, burns, and tissue repair, as well as other certain medical device applications. As part of the transaction, a small team from 30 Technology will transfer across to Convatec.
• 30 Technology retains the rights to, and will continue to develop products for respiratory medicine, animal health, oral surgery, rare diseases, and ophthalmology indications.
• The completion of this strategic divestment will allow 30 Technology to accelerate its development in multiple areas, including respiratory indications, where it is already in several clinical trials.

‍

💸London-based Scan.com has raised $12 million Series A to connect patients with scanning centers covering MRI, ultrasound, CT, and X-ray.

• The investment was co-led by Oxford Capital, Aviva Ventures, YZR Capital, Triple Point Ventures and Simplyhealth Ventures, and participated by Forefront Venture Partners.
• Scan.com has partnered with hundreds of scanning centers to enable individuals to access medical imaging services with or without a GP’s referral, with user-friendly reports replete with clickable diagrams delivered within a week.
• To use Scan.com’s online referral system, users pay up-front to secure their scan, and then they are booked in for a virtual consultation with a clinician within 48 hours.
• If a scan identifies a serious problem, the patient enters Scan.com’s “urgent findings pathway,” where a clinical team contacts the patient and their doctor to explain the results and offer guidance on what to do next.
• The proceedings of the round will be used to continue its US expansion and extend its service offering to include DEXA scans, echocardiograms, and mammograms.

‍

💸 University of Manchester spinout Complement Therapeutics GmbH has raised €72 million series A.

• The investment was co-led by Gimv and Forbion (existing investor) and participated by BioGeneration Ventures, Panakès Partners, Cambridge Innovation Capital, Hadean Ventures and Seroba Life Sciences.
• The company raised €5 million seed funding in February 2022 and was spun out from the University of Manchester in 2021 (Forbion/BGV).
• Complement Therapeutics aims to transform complement-mediated conditions' treatment by developing CTx001, an AAV gene therapy for dry age-related macular degeneration's geographic atrophy.
• The financing will be used to grow its laboratory-based activities in Stevenage (UK), evaluate CTx’s pipeline assets for non-ocular indications, and further develop the Complement Precision Medicine (CPM) platform. CTx001 has progressed through preclinical proof-of-concept, secured an Innovation Passport by the UK Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA), and initiated a non-interventional natural history study in the UK (i-GAIN) to support its clinical development planning.
• Michaël Vlemmix (Gimv), Rob Woodman (Panakès), Anne Horgan (CIC) and Roger Franklin (Hadean Ventures) have joined the Board of Directors.

‍

💸 Cambridge-based Zetta Genomics has secured £1.9 million in a second seed funding round.

• The investment was led by Nina Capital and participated by existing investors APEX Ventures and Cambridge Enterprise.
• The company's XetaBase platform is being developed to improve the research, medical, and healthcare outcomes of genomics at scale.
• The latest funding, which builds on a previous £2.5 million seed round, will help the company to continue to grow internationally, with an initial focus on the UK, US and Spain.
• The funding will be used to help the company advance its technologies and enhance customer focus. The company aims to encompass 500,000 genomes under management and deepen its bioinformatics and translation expertise, as well as build out engineering capabilities to ensure a continuous cycle of innovation, development and delivery.
• Zetta Genomics has attracted global leadership talent, grown its headcount from five to 30, opened new headquarters in Cambridge, UK and an office in Valencia, Spain, and expanded genomes under management to over 120,000.

‍

💸Cambridge-based Pivotal has raised £4.5 million seed round to build a platform for measuring biodiversity at scale.

• The investment was led by Octopus Ventures and participaed by AENU, Clearing Ventures and existing investors Pale Blue Dot.
• Through Pivotal’s platform, both the owners of credit projects and the buyers of those credits can track changes in biodiversity over time and link the value of a credit to real, measured gains.
• The platform will provide affordable, scalable analytics of species-level data to better incentivise and track change in biodiversity over time, and open up new, impactful and secure mechanisms of investment.

‍

💸 London-based Flybox has raised £1.8 million grant funding from Innovate UK and the European Union to build the world's first end-to-end modular insect farm in Aylesbury, UK.

• The company's Grow technology transforms organic waste into insect-protein for animal feed, and Frass for fertiliser, helping address the eco-impact of food production.
• It provides on-site insect farms for farmers to feed organic waste to black soldier flies (BSF), whose larvae are used as high-protein animal feed for pigs, poultry, and fish.
• This helps reduce waste disposal costs and CO2 emissions, provides an extra income source for farmers, and promotes sustainable livestock production. Flybox's modular solutions can be purchased separately or combined into a fully functioning and made-to-order, ready-to-go insect farm, and can be deployed on-site where waste is produced.
• The company's mission is to improve availability of insect-farming and provide solutions directly to waste producers and food producers, including the developing world, to ease access to insect-farming technology.
• The company is founded by Andrea Jagodic (CEO), Larry Kotch (CCO) and Thomas Stringer (CFO).

‍

💸 London-based Perci Health has raised £3.4 million seed round to expand its digital cancer support clinic services.

• The seed round was led by Octopus Ventures. Perci Health previously raised £1.5 million in July 2021.
• Perci Health offers support at every stage, from pre-treatment to post-survival, with vetted cancer-support professionals creating personalised programmes.
• Perci Health is unlocking innovative reimbursement models through employers and insurers.

‍

💸 Newcastle University spinout NunaBio has raised £1.9 million seed funding to expand its production of synthetic DNA for biochemical research.

• The investment was led by the North East Innovation Fund (supported by the European Regional Development Fund and managed by Northstar Ventures), Pioneer Group, Ascension Life Fund and Martlet Capital.
• The company produces synthetic DNA for biochemical research, and is developing a novel method of DNA synthesis which enables the cost-effective production of oligonucleotides at a better scale, speed, and accuracy.
• The funds will be used to expand the company’s infrastructure to scale-up its existing offering, and to accelerate research and development.
• As part of the investment, NunaBio will also join Pioneer Group’s Launch Venture Building programme, where it will receive wrap-around support from leaders in the field for starting up, scaling and raising investment.

‍

💸 University of Cambridge spinout ZOMP has raised £2 million seed funding.

• The investment was participated by ZEISS Ventures, Foresight WAE Technology, and BGF. ZOMP is developing a 3D imaging flow cytometer that can accurately image millions of cells in a single experiment.
• The technology combines whole-cell 3D imaging with flow cytometry using ZOMP’s LightGate technology. The funding will help ZOMP develop a minimum viable product and identify optimal customer applications.
• ZOMP's image-based cell sorting technology has the potential to disrupt the current flow cytometry market by capturing not only binary information about cells, but also morphological and spatial information at a single cell level.
• In addition, ZOMP has partnered with ZEISS, as ZOMP's cutting-edge imaging flow cytometry technology complements ZEISS's experience in bioimaging product development.

‍

💸 Cambridge-based Maxion Therapeutics has been awarded a £2 million grant from Innovate UK to develop antibodies to treat autoimmune diseases.

• The funding will support the use of Maxion's proprietary KnotBody platform to develop antibodies for autoimmune diseases with high unmet clinical need.
• Maxion Therapeutics is developing new biologic medicines for autoimmune conditions and chronic pain by using KnotBody technology.
• This technology combines millions of years of cysteine-rich miniprotein evolution with phage and mammalian display technologies for ion channel and GPCR drug discovery. Maxion is led by Dr John McCafferty (CEO) and Dr Aneesh Karatt Vellatt (CSO).
• Antibody-based therapies have transformed the way chronic conditions like autoimmune disorders are treated, providing enhanced efficacy and safety while reducing the need for frequent administration.
• This funding is part of a £25 million investment in projects to support UK-registered businesses to develop innovative solutions to address significant health or healthcare challenges.

‍

💸 University of Exeter spinout SENISCA has been granted £571,350 from Innovate UK to develop oligonucleotide treatments for idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF).

• The startup is developing RNA-based therapeutics to target age-related diseases.
• The treatment would reverse senescence in IPF tissues, with early preclinical data showing positive results.
• IPF is the most common form of interstitial lung disease, characterised by chronic and progressive fibrosis that leads to respiratory failure and high mortality rates.
• SENISCA's technology has the potential to reverse the condition, rather than just mitigating the symptoms, and has identified a druggable set of target genes to achieve this.
• The Innovate UK grant will enable the company to progress preclinical work towards IND filing.

‍

💸 Moolec Science (NASDAQ:MLEC) has secured up to $50 million in committed equity financing with Nomura.

• Under this facility, Moolec has the option to sell up to $50 million of its ordinary shares to Nomura over a 36-month period. The proceeds from any sales under this financing facility will be used for general corporate purposes.
• This financing agreement will provide Moolec with enhanced financial flexibility to continue driving forward its Molecular Farming Platform and portfolio of products.
• Warwick-based Moolec Science Ltd acquired LightJump in December 2022. The combined company became Moolec Science SA and its shares and warrants started trading on the NASDAQ starting January 2023.
• Moolec is a science-based food ingredient company focused on producing animal proteins in plants through Molecular Farming. Its purpose is to upgrade the taste, nutrition, and affordability of alternative protein products while building a more sustainable and equitable food system.
• Moolec's technology has been under development for more than a decade and is known for pioneering the production of a bovine protein in a crop for the food industry.

Barclays Eagle Labs has launched a two-year programme to support tech businesses, funded by the Government's Digital Growth Grant. The programme will tackle challenges faced by tech businesses and drive regional growth in the UK tech sector. The package includes business growth programmes, mentoring, and educational resources, with an ambition to support up to 22,000 businesses over the next two years. The programmes aim to widen regional and local growth opportunities, support specialist sectors such as health and agri-tech, and drive growth for scaleups. An Independent Advisory Board will advise on project direction, act as a voice of the community, and share best practices. Applications are now open for the first series of programmes, including Ecosystem Partnership Programme, Scaleup Programmes, HealthTech and AgriTech Industry Bridge Programmes, and Funding Readiness Programme. Later this year, a new programme will launch to support the growth of black-founded tech businesses.

The University of Edinburgh is seeking innovative companies transforming the future of healthcare with AI to apply for its AI Accelerator programme starting in September. The AI Accelerator is delivered by The University of Edinburgh's innovation hub for Data Science and Artificial Intelligence, the Bayes Centre, and supported by Edinburgh Innovations, the University of Edinburgh’s commercialisation service. It is delivered on behalf of the University’s Data-Driven Innovation Hubs, in contribution to the Data-Driven Entrepreneurship programme.

LUinc., the business incubator at Loughborough University, is offering a free 6-month programme to support new businesses during the current cost-of-living crisis. The programme includes up to £10,000 worth of support packages, an office space, mentoring, cut-price software, expert-led workshops, and training sessions. Applicants do not need to be affiliated with the university. The Wayfinder programme is supported by Charnwood Borough Council and the Leicester and Leicestershire Enterprise Partnership (LLEP).

LifeArc is planning two funding calls to accelerate research into rare diseases and lung health in cystic fibrosis. The first funding call will establish rare disease research centres and a coordinating hub to transform the identification and treatment of rare diseases. The second funding call will jointly fund and deliver a Translational Innovation Hubnetwork for lung health and infection in partnership with the Cystic Fibrosis Trust. This will accelerate research into chronic respiratory infections in people living with cystic fibrosis. Academic institutions in the UK are invited to submit bids for both funding calls. The first fund will be released on April 24th.

This UK Research and Innovation (UKRI) has announced a funding opportunity for Engineering Biology Missions Hubs and Mission Awards. The funding program will address four missions: food systems, biomedicine, clean growth, and environmental solutions. The competition is open to UK-based research organisations eligible for BBSRC funding, as part of the National Engineering Biology Programme. The funding is subject to business case approval by the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology and HM Treasury.

Forbion has raised $1.5 billion for its two newest funds, bringing the total of funds under management to €3 billion. The Forbion Ventures Fund VI, with a final close of €750 million, aims to build a portfolio of highly impactful therapeutics companies at an earlier stage of development. The Forbion Growth Opportunities Fund II, with a final close of €600 million, invests primarily in European later-stage biopharma companies developing novel therapies in areas of high medical need. The fund aims to take leading positions with investment sizes of up to €70 million per deal. The two funds exceeded their original target sizes and represent Forbion’s largest fundraising success to date.

Pledge Ventures has announced the first close of its maiden fund with capital commitments standing at $38 million. The fund aims to donate 85% of carried interest and up to 50% of management fees to the charity, creating a new way for Founders Pledge to fund its operations, build up a long-term capital endowment, and scale its impact. The project has been supported by Headline, a leading global Venture Capital fund, and Founding Partner, Andreas Haug, will be chairing the Pledge Ventures Investment Committee. The success of Pledge Ventures' first close has been possible thanks to the support of the Founders Pledge community and the collective commitment to drive positive social impact.

Kindred Capital has raised £105m for its third fund to invest in pre-seed startups. The firm typically invests between £160,000 to £2.4 million in no more than 30 companies, including bio/health tech, for each fund and only leads or co-leads rounds. The fun invests in fintech, fertility, cell and gene therapy to SaaS pricing, robots to retirement communities. The firm operates on an “equitable venture model”, where profits from the fund are distributed to portfolio company founders. British Patient Capital contributed £21.6 million to the total investment for Kindred Capital’s third fund.

Aviva, a British multinational insurance company, has committed £150 million in funding to its technology venture capital firm division, Aviva Ventures. The venture capital division invests in promising young digital and tech firms that provide insight on emerging technology and consumer trends, focusing on areas such as customer wellbeing, mobility, sustainability, and AI. Since its launch in 2016 with a fund pot of £100 million, it has invested in companies such as Tembo Money, Outdoorsy, Shepper, and Owlstone Medical.

The British Growth Fund (BGF) has raised an additional £80m in investment through Coutts, the private banking arm of NatWest. Coutts clients have invested in the BGF UK Enterprise Fund, which invests alongside BGF in promising fast-growth companies. BGF has invested over £3 billion in more than 500 companies since its inception in 2011, and has exited about 150 businesses so far, with a current 23% internal rate of return.

Foresight Group has secured a £20 million investment from British Business Investments for its North East Fund, which supports companies across multiple sectors with operations in County Durham, East Riding of Yorkshire, North Lincolnshire, North Yorkshire, Northumberland, Tyne and Wear, Teesside and West Yorkshire. The new funding will enable further deployment of capital in the region, accelerating economic growth and job creation. The North East Fund was launched in June 2022 with £18 million of cornerstone funding from Durham County Council's Pension Fund and further support from the Teesside Pension Fund.

The UK Government has appointed seven Non-Executive members to the new Department for Science, Innovation and Technology (DSIT) Start-Up Board. The board will provide strategic guidance to DSIT as it looks to further the UK's science and technology agenda. The DSIT Board will serve for nine months on an initial Start-Up Board that will nurture DSIT through its first year of existence, before a permanent Board is recruited in due course. The DSIT Non Executive Board members are: Shonnel Malani (Managing Partner at Advent International), Tim Peake CMG (former European Space Agency astronaut), Ron Dennis CBE (Founding Shareholder and former Chairman and CEO of the McLaren Technology Group Ltd, Chairman of Podium Analytics), Baroness Alison Wolf CBE (Professor at King’s College London, cross-bench House of Lords Peer), Melissa Di Donato (former CEO of SUSE Software Solutions, iNED at JPMorgan Chase, Supervisory Board member of Porsche AG, Senior Advisor at Hg Capital), Saul Klein (co-founder and Managing Partner of Phoenix Court, home to LocalGlobe and Latitude, as well as co-founder of Seedcamp and ZINC), Professor Jason Chin FRS (founder of ConstructiveBio, Fellow in Natural Sciences at Trinity College, Cambridge, and Head, Centre for Chemical and Synthetic Biology at the MRC Laboratory of Molecular Biology)

The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) in England has recommended the use of AbbVie's Imbruvica in combination with Roche/AbbVie’s Venclyxta as a treatment option for people with untreated Chronic Lymphocytic Leukaemia (CLL), the most common form of leukaemia. The recommendation was made because clinical evidence shows that the combination treatment can keep people alive longer and stave off disease progression longer than other approved treatments for CLL, in addition to causing fewer side effects. Brukinsa, a drug by BeiGene, has been shown to be effective in treating CLL and small lymphocytic lymphoma (SLL). It has already started to dig into the sales of Imbruvica.

The Department for Science, Innovation and Technology (DSIT) has launched an expert exchange scheme to bring experts from academia and industry into government work for up to nine months. The experts will be placed in tech policymaking and will help support the government's "tech superpower" goals. The exchange aims to build on the UK's tech talent base and support a pro-innovation culture within the public sector. The Royal Academy of Engineering will assist in finding appropriate seconders.

Norwich-based Tropic's non-browning gene-edited banana has achieved production approval in the Philippines, making it the first gene-edited product cleared through the country's regulatory process. This banana has the potential to reduce food waste and CO2 emissions by over 25%. Tropic plans to introduce other products in the Philippines and is using gene editing to develop disease-resistant bananas. The regulatory framework established by the Filipino government encourages investment and R&D in the country's banana sector.

Cambridge-based Opto Biosystems and Resonant Link (Vermont) have partnered to accelerate Opto’s mission of providing clinicians with minimally invasive implantable neurotechnology. The partnership will leverage Opto’s small wireless sensors implanted into the brain to provide neurological data for serious, treatment-resistant conditions, such as brain cancer and epilepsy. Opto is backed by Blackbird Ventures and Possible Ventures.

Oxford-based Oxford BioTherapeutics has entered a collaboration with Groupe d'Oncologie Radiothérapie Tête Et Cou (GORTEC) to investigate OBT076 in a Phase 1b trial on Adenoid Cystic Carcinoma (ACC) patients of the head and neck. CD205, OBT076's target antigen, is overexpressed in around 80% of ACC tumor biopsy samples. Patients with ACC have a poor prognosis with very limited treatment options beyond surgery and radiotherapy. OBT076 is currently being evaluated in Phase 1 clinical trials in the US and Europe. The trial will investigate OBT076 as monotherapy and in sequence with balstilimab, a PD-1 blocking antibody. The trial will be carried out in patients with recurrent or metastatic ACC of the head and neck across the GORTEC network in France, Belgium, and Switzerland.

Sygnature Discovery has announced a research collaboration with Daewoong Pharma to find a new small molecule to treat an undisclosed autoimmune disease. Sygnature Discovery will provide drug discovery support, including fragment-based drug discovery and virtual high throughput screening expertise. Daewoong will also receive support to accelerate novel drug discovery, including protein science and crystallography.

The University of Birmingham, Dexter and Cegedim Health Data has partnered for a gestational diabetes trial to improve the uptake of type 2 diabetes testing for women at risk. The RADIANT trial will also test a new approach to automate finding patients for randomised clinical trials. The trial will focus on gestational diabetes mellitus (GDM), which affects over 30,000 women a year in the UK. RADIANT is funded by the NIHR for Patient Benefit. It will use Dexter's software platform (was developed at the University of Birmingham) to identify suitable women for inclusion in the trial from Cegedim Health Data's real-world database, THIN, which is an anonymised database of primary care records.

London-based NeoPhore Limited has signed a collaboration agreement with Prof Chris Lord's lab at The Institute of Cancer Research (London) to investigate single agent activity against tumors with defined genetic backgrounds. NeoPhore is developing a pipeline targeting proteins in the DNA mismatch repair pathway to treat solid tumours. The collaboration has the potential to broaden the use of MMR inhibitors beyond neoantigen generation. This is the 4th collaboration agreement NeoPhore has signed since 2017.

A group of researchers from Kymab, Babraham Research Campus, University of Oxford, University Children's Hospital, University of Zurich, Alchemab Therapeutics, and Imperial College London have published a paper on the human likeness of the B-cell receptor immune repertoire of humanised mice. The work describes the degree to which structural templates available for antigen binding on naïve B cells are human-like in the Kymouse.

The University of Oxford and the Serum Institute of India new malaria vaccine called R21/Matrix-M has receivedregulatory clearance for use in Ghana and Nigeria, making it the first vaccine approved in any country. Malaria is a leading cause of death among children in Africa, and the vaccine is approved for use in children aged five to 36 months. It has been shown to be highly effective and safe in Phase II trials, even among children who received a booster dose. The vaccine is low-cost and can be manufactured at mass scale. The Matrix-M adjuvant used in the vaccine enhances the immune system response, making the vaccine more potent and durable. The success of this vaccine offers hope for effective malaria prevention in vulnerable populations, particularly young children in Africa.

The Academic Health Science Networks (AHSNs) celebrates its 10-year anniversary this April. The AHSNs consists of 15 units and was created by NHS England to transform the way that the NHS identifies, adopts, and spreads promising innovations Since 2018, the AHSN Network has supported life science companies and innovators in achieving more than £1.3 billion investment and creating or securing over 5,400 job opportunities and has supported the rapid uptake of 28 NICE-approved products. These initiatives have benefited over two million patients and achieved an estimated £165 million of in-year savings to the NHS.

Cambridge-based Domainex has been awarded a King’s Award for Enterprise: International Trade 2023. The award recognises the company's growth and commitment to delivering quality drug discovery services for life science clients. The company has grown by over 50% since 2021 and has worked with a record number of clients in over a dozen countries. Domainex's international revenues have increased by more than 100% from 2019 to 2021.

Newcastle-based NunaBio has appointed Sarah Greenhalgh as Chief Operating Officer. Greenhalgh ****joins from GlycoScoreDx where she was Operations Director. In the past she was Head of Operations at Transmission Dynamics, Clinical Operations Specialist at Biosignatures and has over two decades of project management experience at Newcastle University.

Stevenage-based NRG Therapeutics has appointed Vad Lazari Ph.D. as Vice President of Biology. Dr Lazari (ex-Charles River, Pfizer, BioFocus DPI) brings over 20 years of drug discovery experience. He will lead the biology team in supporting NRG's pipeline of potential first-in-class brain-penetrant small molecule inhibitors of the mitochondrial permeability transition pore (mPTP) as treatments for Parkinson's and Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS).

Haverhill-based Expression Edits has appointed Prof Gavin Wright to its Scientific Advisory Board. Wright is a Professor of Microbial Biochemistry at the University of York, with experience in identifying extracellular receptor-ligand interactions in both genetic and infectious diseases. His research includes cell surface proteins involved in sperm-egg recognition in mammals and a systematic survey of human leukocyte receptor interactions.

Oxford-based OMass Therapeutics has announced the company is moving to a new 16,000 sq. ft. site on the ARC Oxford campus to support company growth. The new site will allow co-location and enhanced collaboration of discovery research teams from OMass' former sites in Oxford and Nottingham. The Company also continues to expand its senior leadership team and has appointed Winfried Barchet Ph.D. as its Vice President of Immunology joining from IFM Therapeutics where he was the Executive Director of Innate Immunity. OMass is advancing a pipeline of small molecule therapeutics in rare diseases and immunological conditions that target solute carriers, complex-bound proteins, and GPCRs. OMass Therapeutics is backed by Syncona, Oxford Science Enterprises, GV, Northpond Ventures, and Sanofi Ventures.

Somerset NHS Foundation Trust has inaugurated its new Macular Treatment Centre at the Harrison House, Blackbrook Park Estate, Taunton. The state-of-the-art centre is equipped with two new consulting and treatment rooms, and can cater to over 300 patients every week. The Trust partnered with Bayer, the Musgrove Park Hospital League of Friends, and its donors to fund and equip the new centre. The joint working project aimed to reduce wait times and enable timely follow-up treatment.

The NHS Blood and Transplant (NHSBT) has inaugurated a £10 million Clinical Biotechnology Centre (CBC) facility in Filton, Bristol. The CBC will manufacture products for early-phase clinical trials and pre-clinical work to support the UK's growth in the cell and gene therapy industry. The CBC will also manufacture GMP-grade AAV and lentiviral vectors after having manufactured GMP-grade plasmids for over 20 years. The facility was supported by a grant awarded by the MRC and LifeArc, as part of the creation of a network of three Innovation Hubs for gene therapies, with the other hubs located at Kings College London and University of Sheffield.

The University of Leeds, in partnership with Nexus and the National Measurement Laboratory, has opened the Northern Cell Metrology Hub. The new centre of innovation focuses on clinical diagnostics and medical technology, and students from different disciplines can work with the lab during their studies. The lab shares knowledge and equipment with Leeds’ Astbury Centre for Structural Molecular Biology. The hub is the first location in the North of England and features an Attune CytPix Flow Cytometer and state-of-the-art ultra-low freezer for the long-term storage of cells and cell banks.

London-based Eden Bio is leasing 45 sqm of its lab space at the Scale Space White City.

London-headquartered GSK (LSE/NYSE: GSK) will acquire BELLUS Health (TSX/NASDAQ: BLU), a late-stage biopharmaceutical company working to improve the lives of patients with refractory chronic cough, for a cash value of $2 billion. The acquisition will give GSK access to camlipixant, a potential best-in-class treatment for RCC, a condition that affects 28 million patients worldwide. The drug is currently in phase III of clinical development, with regulatory approval and launch expected in 2026. The acquisition is expected to be accretive to adjusted Earnings Per Share from 2027 with significant sales potential through 2031.

London-headquartered GSK (LSE/NYSE: GSK) has presented positive data for gepotidacin, an investigational oral antibiotic for uncomplicated urinary tract infections (uUTIs) in female adults and adolescents. The EAGLE-2 and EAGLE-3 phase III trials met the primary endpoint of non-inferiority to nitrofurantoin, with EAGLE-3 demonstrating statistical superiority. A US FDA submission is planned for Q2 2023. Over half of all women are affected by uUTIs in their lifetime, with more than a quarter suffering from recurrent disease. The development of gepotidacin has been funded with U.S. federal funds.

Guildford-headquartered ANGLE (AIM:AGL; OTCQX:ANPCY) has partnered with BioView (Israel) to create a circulating tumour cell (CTC)-based HER2 assay for breast cancer. ANGLE's FDA cleared Parsortix PC1 Clinical System and BioView's automated microscopy systems and software will be used to detect and assess the HER2 expression and/or gene amplification in CTCs. This development phase is expected to generate approximately £1.2 million in revenue for ANGLE. The market dynamic has created a commercial opportunity for a CTC-based HER2 assay, allowing repeat testing and longitudinal monitoring of patients to personalise cancer care.

Finland-headquartered Faron Pharmaceuticals (AIM:FARN, OTC:FPHAF) has released new phase I/II data on its cancer drug, bexmarilimab. The drug is being tested in combination with standard treatments for relapsed and unresponsive acute myeloid leukemia and myelodysplastic syndromes. The latest findings show promising responses in patients from the study, including two objective responses and two stable disease patients in the second doublet cohort. One patient from the first doublet cohort is undergoing potentially curative transplantation. Faron plans to seek FDA advice during the third quarter on a potential path to a Biologics License Application submission.

US-headquartered Merck (NYSE: MRK) has announced detailed results for Keytruda after AstraZeneca's (LSE/STO/Nasdaq: AZN) recent FDA approval for Imfinzi. The results from the phase 3 KEYNOTE-966 trial showed that adding Keytruda to chemotherapy lowered the risk of death by 17% in patients with advanced or metastatic biliary tract cancer. The study involved 1,069 randomised patients, and the overall survival improvement was statistically significant and clinically meaningful. The Keytruda regimen's 14% lower risk of disease progression or death compared with chemo missed the statistical significance bar.

Legendary Regeneron chairman Roy Vagelos is retiring at age 93. Vagelos was the former chair and CEO of Merck & Co, and was brought on to lead Regeneron after the company suffered a major setback in 1994. Under Vagelos' leadership, Regeneron became a Big Biotech firm and developed several blockbuster drugs. After nearly 30 years at Regeneron, Vagelos is being succeeded by co-founders Len Schleifer and George Yancopoulos as co-chairs. Regeneron, which has nearly 12,000 employees worldwide, faces a number of new challenges, including competition against its key drug Eylea and the need to develop new projects such as bispecific antibodies and RNA interference therapies.

The first allogeneic stem cell transplant therapy (Gamida Cell’s Omisirge) has been approved by the US FDA. It utilises proprietary nicotinamide technology to enhance and expand the number of progenitor cells taken from a donor, preserving their stemness and retained engraftment capacity. Omisirge is used to treat adults and pediatric patients over 12 years old with hematological malignancies, including acute myeloid leukemia and acute lymphoblastic leukemia, and is delivered to patients in transplant centers within 30 days. The FDA approval was based on the results of Gamida's global, randomized Phase III clinical trial, in which Omisirge demonstrated faster neutrophil recovery and reduced bacterial and fungal infection in treated patients compared with standard cord blood transplants. Patients who are Black or African American, who have a lower chance of finding a fully matched donor in the registry, may benefit from Omisirge as a new donor source.

Very interesting paper from the David Baker’s lab. It discuses a new approach to designing complex protein nanomaterials using a "top-down" reinforcement learning-based design approach. This approach uses Monte Carlo tree search to sample protein conformers in the context of an overall architecture and specified functional constraints to generate optimal protein structures. The resulting structures, such as disk-shaped nanopores and ultracompact icosahedra, are very close to the computational models and enable high-density display of immunogens and signalling molecules, which can be used for vaccine response and angiogenesis induction.

BiopharmaDive has interviewed Cathy Friedman (Partner at GV) about biotech's future and the industry's recent struggles. Friedman has spent over 30 years in finance and biotech and has been a director on the boards of several life sciences companies. “We don’t need a vibrant IPO market this year to make ourselves excited about investing,” she said.

DeepMind has announced they will be joining forces with the Brain team from Google Research to form a new unit called Google DeepMind. The new unit will bring together world-class talent in AI with the computing power, infrastructure, and resources of Google and Alphabet to create the next generation of AI breakthroughs and products. The announcement also mentions the creation of a scientific board to oversee research progress and direction of the unit.