‘Nous vivons dans un arc-en-ciel de chaos.’ said Cezanne, whose lifetime work is currently being exhibited at the Tate Modern. Of the many arc-en-ciel de chaos going on, this edition of Cambridge Biocapital aims to set us up to speed, yet exhaustively, with the news in the last two weeks in the British biotech scene. Nothing like being off the road for a while to witness from the distance AbbVie revamping its interest in antibodies against GPCRs (DSJ Antibodies), Oz Azam setting up a new venture targeting the central nervous system (Empyrean Neurosciences), and sudden renewed enthusiasm in the 3D genomic analysis (Enhand3D Genomics, Nucleome Therapeutics). In the NASDAQ vs LON front, Syncona is acquiring Applied Genetic Technologies Corporation. October has been the perfect playbook for those enjoying a good deep dive into balance sheets and cap tables: seed rounds, Series A, follow-on investments, acquisitions, debt financing, new subsidiaries. The Wellcome Trust too. Fascinating science: Jason Chin’s group at the Laboratory of Molecular Biology has published pivotal research on refactoring the genetic code. Prof Daniele Leonoriand his team have discovered that seemingly impossible chemical reactions can be driven through quantum tunnelling. Talking about rainbows of chaos… remember the mini-budget? It seems the SEIS extension has survived the Hunt. Moderna has exercised its option to license Autolus’ proprietary binders and Osborne Clarke has appointed Trevor Crosse as Life Science Partner for its London office. Pangea has brought Piers Morgan —the good one— into the team. Interesting reads: IP Group went from “doing cleantech” to “having a dedicated platform that only does cleantech”. Toby Young from Bailey Fisher discusses with Rob Trezona, Founding Partner of Kiko Ventures, what triggered such change. Also, Genomics England is a national treasure and yet we do not say this enough times. Sound of the week? Fred again.. Yes, only with two dots. Let’s dive in!

Oxford-based DSJ Antibodies has been acquired for $255 million by AbbVie (NYSE: ABBV). DJS shareholders remain eligible for potential additional payments upon the achievement of certain development milestones related to the success of the DJS-002 programme. The company was founded in 2014 David Llewellyn and Joe Illingworth(University of Oxford alumni) with the support from Oxford Science Enterprises and Johnson & Johnson Innovation. In 2020, it raised £6 million Series A co-led by LifeArc and Sedgwick Yard, with participation from Amgen Ventures. DJS’ lead programme is DJS-002, a potential first-in-class lysophosphatidic acid (LPA) receptor 1 (LPAR1) antagonist antibody currently in investigational preclinical studies for the treatment of Idiopathic Pulmonary Fibrosis (IPF) and other fibrotic diseases. DJS has also developed its proprietary HEPTAD platform to enable antibody discovery with specific capabilities targeting transmembrane protein targets such as G protein-coupled receptors (GPCRs).

Cambridge, Uk and New York-based Empyrean Neuroscience has emerged from stealth and raised $22 million Series A. The investment was lead by Spore Partnersand other undisclosed partners. Empyrean is developing a platform to genetically engineer small molecule therapeutics from fungi and plants to target Central Nervous System (CNS) disorders. The platform identifies fungal alkaloids and other small molecules that may exhibit therapeutic profile in terms of efficacy and safety. The platform incorporates a CRISPR/Cas9 technology license from ERS Genomics for genetic engineering applications. The pipeline focuses on major depressive disorder, post-traumatic stress disorder, neurologic disorders, substance abuse and dependence, and chronic pain. Investigational New Drug (IND) enabling studies of its first genetically engineered encapsulated mushroom drug product are ongoing and clinical trials for MDD are expected for in 2023. Veteran biotech executives Usman “Oz” Azam, M.D., and Fred Grossman, D.O., FAPA, have joined the company as Chief Executive Officer and Chief Medical Officer respectively. Formerly, Azam was President and Chief Executive Officer of Tmunity Therapeutics and Global Head of Cell & Gene Therapies at Novartis. Grossman was Chief Medical Officer of Mesoblast Ltd and President and Chief Medical Officer of Glenmark Pharmaceuticals.

London-based VacV Biotherapeutics have emerged from stealth raising $3 million investment from Proxima Ventures. VacV Biotherapeutics is developing viral-based immunotherapies to tackle various forms of cancer. The proceedings of the round will be used to expand the team and complete the preclinical studies. The company has spun out of Barts Cancer Institute and Queen Mary University of London, and leverages 20 years of immunotherapy research from Prof Yaohe Wang and Prof Nicholas Lemoine’s lab. VacV is initially focusing on a range of refractory solid tumours including pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma, glioblastoma and metastatic colorectal cancer. The company is developing a platform to systemically deliverable oncolytic virus that specifically infect and kill cancer cells, with the potential to enhancing natural anti-tumour immune responses, thus preventing recurrence. In January, 2021, the academic team was awarded £3.48m from the Medical Research Council DPFS Fund to develop the platform foundation and initiate preclinical trials.

London-based Causaly has raised $7.7 million follow-on venture funding (further details remain undisclosed). Causaly is developing a biomedical research discovery tool designed to find and unlock hidden evidence in literature. Causaly’s AI reads the entire volume of biomedical literature ever published in seconds. The company raised$17 million Series A in May 2021 and is currently backed by Novartis, Index Ventures, Marathon Venture Capital, Pentech Ventures, the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development Investment Firm, and a range of angel investors (Matt Clifford, Charlie Songhurst, among others).

PBD Biotech has raised £2.4 million follow-on investment to support further clinical trials for Actiphage, the company’s turberculosis (TB) blood test. The funding has been raised from a consortium led by Mercia and the Foresight Group, both investing from the Midlands Engine Investment Fund, alongside the University of Nottingham and private investors. The proceedings of the round will be used to further develop Actiphage to address a global unmet need for a non-sputum-based test for human TB. In addition, Actiphage will also be developed as blood and milk test for Johne’s Disease (paratuberculosis). Trials of Actiphage are currently running in the UK, South Africa and Zambia.

Cambridge-based DeepMirror has raised funding equivalent to Innovate UK Smart Grant from a network of business angels, including Prashant Shah, who has been appointed to the Board as non-executive director. DeepMirror is applying machine learning to smaller multi-modality life science data sets on a SAAS platform. This enables scientific teams to leverage machine learning algorithms without in-house knowledge or investments.

Cambridge-based Enhanc3D Genomics has raised £10 million Series A. The funding was led by BGF and Parkwalk Advisors along with existing private investors Dr Jonathan Milner and Vincent Tchenguiz, and Bioqube Ventures. The proceedings of the round will be used to advance the company’s proprietary platform GenLink3D, and obtain datasets of novel diagnostic biomarkers for better patient stratification, as well as potential therapeutic targets across multiple autoimmune-related diseases, expand the team and move into larger facilities in Cambridge’s St John’s Innovation Centre. Dr Chris Torrance, founder and Chairman of Phoremost, has joined Enhanc3D’s Board as Non-Executive Chair. Enhand3D was spun out of the Babraham Institute by Start Codon and founded by Prof Peter Fraser and Dr Stefan Schonefelder.

Oxford-based Nucleome Therapeutics has raised £37.5 million Series A. The funding was led by M Ventures and participated by new Johnson and Johnson Innovation, Pfizer Ventures and British Patient Capital (Future Fund: Breakthrough Programme), and founding investor Oxford Science Enterprises. Nucleome is developing a platform to identify direct genetic linkages to disease-associated genes for drug discovery, currently with a focus on autoimmune diseases. The proceedings of the round will be used to advance the company’s proprietary dark genome atlas and the development of the platform. Nucleate’s approach consist on validating first-in-class targets through genetics by mining the regions on the genome that do not codify for proteins and yet contain 90% of disease-associated genetic changes. The company leverages proprietary 3D genome technology and machine learning to investigate the genetic variants associated to disease in their pathway-dependent context. Nucleome was founded in 2019 and has become a leader in 3D genomics analysis.

Oxford-based Ochre Bio has raised $30 million Series A. The investor syndicate included Khosla Ventures, Hermes-Epitek, Backed VC, LifeForce Capital, Selvedge, AixThera, LifeLink, EIT and individual investors, Alice Zhang(CEO of Verge Genomics), Kristen Fortney (CEO of BioAge), and Marty Chavez (Chairman of Recursion Pharmaceuticals). Ochre Bio is innovating in the chronic liver diseases drug development, currently the third leading cause of premature death in the UK. The company is developing a deep phenotyping approach and has generated a single -cell, spatial-sequencing and imaging data in over 1,000 diseased human livers across 3 continents. The proceedings of the round will be used for translating the findings from the phenotyping approach to inform the discovery of RNA-based drug candidates. Pre-clinical testing will be performed during 2023 using Liver ICUs, whole human livers maintained on machines, with the aim of moving into clinical development in 2024. Ochre Bio is aims to directly regenerate organs in patients, removing the need for organ transplants.

London-based Hoxton Farms has raised $22 million Series A. The investment was led by Collaborative Fund, one of Beyond Meat and Impossible Food early backers, and participated by Fine Structure Ventures (Fidelity-affiliated fund). Hoxton Farms is producing animal fat from stem cells that can then be used as an ingredient in plant-based products. The proceedings of the round will be used to build a 13,000 sq ft pilot plant in Shoreditch which considers less carbon-intensive food production, submitting regulatory dossiers, establish customer partnerships and growing its team to 50 members by the end of 2023. Hoxton Farms was founded by Max Jamilly and Ed Steele in 2020 and raised a $2.7 million seed round in February, 2021.

University of Surrey’s spinout Silverray has raised £2.2 million seed funding. The round was led by the UK Innovation & Science Seed Fund and participated by ACF Investors, R42 Group, UK Future Tech Investment, InnovateUK, Cambridge Angels, and SyndicateRoom’s Access Fund. Silverray is developing a new type of highly sensitive direct X-ray conversion material, so fewer X-rays are needed to achieve same image quality. The proceedings of the round will be used to expanding the team and moving into production and development facilities. Silverray’s initial product development focus will aim to detecting undesirable inclusions within steel tubes using high-resolution X-rays. The work will be carried out in collaboration with using Innovate UK funding.

Syncona Limited (LON: SYNC) to acquire Applied Genetic Technologies Corporation (Nasdaq: AGTC). Applied Genetic Technologies Corporation is a clinical-stage biotechnology company focused on the development and commercialisation of adeno-associated virus (AAV)-based gene therapies for the treatment of rare and debilitating diseases with an initial focus on inherited retinal diseases (IRDs). Syncona will acquire AGTC through a tender offer for approx. $23.5 million ($0.34 per share, premium 42% over AGTC’s closing stock price). The contingent value rights holders will be entitled to receive payments of up to an additional $50.0 million in the aggregate upon the achievement of certain milestones related to transactions involving AGTC’s assets and regulatory and commercial milestones related to AGTC’s products.

Launch Diagnostics Ltd to be acquired for £24 million (debt-free/cash-free basis) by Avacta Group Plc (LON: AVCT). Launch Diagnostics is a leading independent distributor for the British in vitro diagnostics market and this acquisition represents the first step in a M&A-led growth strategy by Avacta for its immunodiagnostics and molecular diagnostics division. Launch Diagnostics was established in 1990 in Longfield, Kent. In FY21, the company generated £14.17 million of non-COVID-19 related revenue. Global IVD market is projected to reach sales of $113.1 billion by 2026.

Cambridge Cognition has acquired eClinicalHealth. eClinicalHealth is digital technology provider in the virtual clinical trials space ($7.8 billion market, CARG 14% pa), which currently works with three of the top ten largest pharma companies. The acquisition will allow Cambridge Cognition to assist all trial modules from recruitment to clinical reporting, with an initial focus on CNS-related disorders. Virtual clinical trialling platforms allow decentralise testing, improve recruitment, trial diversity and ultimately reduce costs.

The Wellcome Trust has awarded 8.8 million to the University of Leicester to accelerate the discovery of new treatments for lung conditions. The 8-year project will be carried out in collaboration with the University of Nottinghamand University of Cambridge. Initially the focus will be on chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), asthma and pulmonary fibrosis. The aim is to connect the discovery of new genetic associations to the laboratory research that will analyse those genes and identify optimal candidates for drug development.

The Government has announced over £800 million of funding will be allocated by the National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR) to promote scientific research. £790 million will be dedicated to the 20 NIHR biomedical research centres (BRCs) across England to support breakthroughs in new treatments, diagnostics and medical technology. £25 million will be allocated to the 6 NIHR patient safety research centres (PSRCs) to advance research on patient safety (improve the safe delivery of healthcare and reduce medication error). Funding will be distributed across the country, with over £260 million being invested outside of London, Oxford and Cambridge.

The Wellcome Trust has awarded £1.8 million to the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency(MHRA) and the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE). The project will expand for three years and will aim to produce guidance on regulating digital mental health tools. Despite of the increasing number of digital mental health products in the market, there is not clear regulation on whether they are medical devices and, if so, which risk classification they would fall under.

Renewed appetite in the antibody-drug conjugates space as Schroder UK Public Private Trust PLC, a London-based investment firm, makes £2.7 million investment in Araris Biotech AG, as part of its £21.4 million financing round. Araris is developing an antibody-drug conjugate-linker technology to allow for the efficient and precise production of ADCs.

Once upon a time, a mini-budget was presented to the British public. It did not go well. Against all odds, SEIS extension survived the avalanche. The £1m Annual Investment Allowance and the Company Share Options Plan also remain. But do not get too attached just in case.

According to the Q3/2022 report from the BioIndustry Association, “UK-based biotechs are on track for their best year ever”. Now, I appreciate this may seem a bit of a half-full approach to the situation, but there is actually some sense in it. No new listings in British public markets. But also non un European markets. In fact, only four biotechs where able to complete initioal public offerings, one in Shangai (Inventisbio, £255.2 million), and three in the US (Maia Biotechnology, $10 million; Paxmedica, $8 million; and Shuttle Pharmaceuticals, $9.96 million). Follow-on in London only experienced a minor improvement. LSE: nothing during Q3 2022, but also nothing during Q3 2021 (2021, total £50 million). AIM: £78 million, Q3 2022; £69 million, Q3 2021. And yet… NASDAQ-listed British companies had one of the best ever quarters: £254 million, Q3 2022; £9 million, Q3 2021; total £335 million in 2021. On the venture capital front, UK biotechs raised £247 million during Q3, down 11% from Q2. Quarterly vanity metrics? Best in their category during Q3, Mirobio (£78.6 million, Series B), Charm Therapeutics (£43.1 million, Series A), and constructive.bio (£12.9 million, Seed).

Digitalis Ventures has raised a $300 million fund (Fund IV). Digitalis supports founders in the health and life sciences space. Currently, Digitalis has one UK-based startup in its portfolio, and that is… PetMedix! Since inception in 2016, Digitalis has invested in over 50 companies in US, UK and Europe in the synthetic biology, AI-driven drug discovery platforms, and digital health.

Cambridge-based Adrestia Therapeutics has initiated a multi-target partnership with Munich-based Proterosbiostructures GmbH. Proteros is a privately-held company with expertise in structure-based drug discovery that provides small molecule drug discovery services. The collaboration aims to accelerate the discovery of first-in-class candidate drugs for intractable diseases leveraging Proteros’ skills in crystallographic fragment screening, artificial intelligence and virtual library screening. Adrestia progresses into a new phase after validating various synthetic rescue targets, and moves into drug discovery for genetically defined neurologic and cardiomyopathic diseases.

University of Sussex-based Sussex Drug Discovery Centre (SDDC) has partneredwith Sophion Bioscience as provider for wider access to automated patch clamp technology and knowledge. The partnership allows to expand SDDC’s collaboration capabilities with academic and industrial partners in ion channel research.

Norwich Research Park-based Tropic Biosciences has partnered with Basingstoke-headquartered Genus Plc (LON: GNS) to expand their collaboration for the application of Tropic’s Gene Editing induced Gene Silencing (GEiGS) technology in porcine and bovine genetics. Genus is tackling livestock diseases leveraging animal genetic improvement. The collaboration, which started in June 2020, has already delivered multiple sets of GEiGS solutions for Genus to evaluate their implication in the development of resistance traits. The expansion will allow to explore further traits based on the GEiGS platform.

Cambridge-based PhoreMost has entered a multi-target collaboration with Arvinas, an industry leader in targeted protein degradation (TPD). PhoreMost will receive research funding and will be eligible for pre-clinical, clinical, and commercial milestones. Financial details have not been disclosed. Phoremost will deploy its proprietary phenotypic screening platform (SITESEEKER) and the output will be used to enable degrader drug discovery in oncology and neurodegeneration using Arvinas’s proprietary PROTAC Discovery Engine platform. SITESEEKER probes the proteome in live cell environment for potentially novel druggable targets linked to a given disease using the company’s proprietary miniprotein libraries.

Jason Chin’s group at the Laboratory of Molecular Biology (LMB) (Cambridge) has published pivotal research on refactoring (i.e. changing the correspondence between codons and amino acids) the genetic code of Syn61 (an E. colistrain with a synthetic genome). constructive.bio, a Cambridge-based techbio startup span out from the LMB, is leveraging the refactoring platform to create fully biocontained synthetic organisms for a range of applications.

Genomics Plc has announced a partnership with Our Future Health, the UK’s largest ever health research programme. The aim of the collaboration is to generate polygenic risk scores (PRS) to discover novel ways to prevent, detect and treat common diseases such as dementia or diabetes. The program will leverage Genomics’ leadership in PRS development, recently demonstrating the accuracy of its approach across 53 different common diseases and traits. PRS tests and tools can identify potential patients at elevated risk of disease and match them to the relevant prevention, screening, or treatment pathways. Our Future Health will then gather and connect genetic data and other health-related sources of information across a cohort of 5 million people that reflects the UK population.

LifeArc scientists in collaboration with a research group led by Daniele Leonori, Professor of Organic Chemistry at the University of Manchester have discovered that seemingly impossible chemical reactions can be driven through quantum tunnelling. The discoveries open up for new opportunities in drug discovery as reactions that were thermodynamically and kinetically unfavourable may now be possible. The publication, Halogen-atom and group transfer reactivity enabled by hydrogen tunnelling, was published recently in Science.

SiSaf has begun US regulatory process for Orphan Drug Designation (ODD). The company’s lead candidate SIS-101-ADO is designed forrare genetic skeletal disorders. SIS-101-ADO combines an siRNA suppressing CLCN7 expression with its Bio-Courier technology (silicon stabilised hybrid lipid nanoparticles (sshLNPTM)). By reducing the expression of CLCN7, a gene expressed by osteoclasts and other cell types responsible for causing Autosomal dominant osteopetrosis type II (ADO2), the RNA therapy could potentially improve bone mass and quality. Genetic skeletal disorders such as ADO2 account for 5% of all birth defects globally. SiSaf is a privately-held company supported by venture capital investors including Vickers Venture Partnersand the UK Future Fund. SiSaf has partnered with CSSi LifeSciences to achieve ODD.

Manchester-based F2G Ltd has announced positive data from the first 100 patients who completed study treatment in its ongoing Phase 2b open-label study (Study 32, NCT03583164) of oral olorofim as a treatment for invasive fungal infections. These patients have limited or no treatment options for invasive fungal infections, i.e. refractory or unable to tolerate existing antifungal treatments. According to the company’s report, overall, a 44% response rate, defined as complete or partial response, was seen across fungi at day 42, the primary endpoint. In addition, all-cause mortality (ACM) at day 42 and day 84 were 15% and 20%, respectively. Drug-induced liver injury (DILI) was the only significant serious adverse event detected possibly related to olorofim in 8% of the study patients. 2% of the patients required discontinuation of olorofim due to DILI.

Glasgow-based EnteroBiotix has being granted Manufacturer’s licence for Investigational Medicinal Products (IMP) by the Medicines and Healthcare Products Regulatory Agency to manufacture microbiome candidates for clinical trials. The EnteroBiotix has announced Phase II clinical trial will initiate soon for its lead microbiome therapeutic asset, EBX-102, in patients with liver cirrhosis.

Brainomix has entered a collaboration agreement with the National Consortium of Intelligent Medical Imaging (NCIMI, hosted at the University of Oxford) and 3 NHSsites. The aim is to optimise and validate e-ACT, Brainomix’s automated cancer tracking platform. e-ACT measures the size of lung cancer tumors and detects changes in tumour size, which may indicate treatment response and disease progression. The collaboration will evaluate how automated assessment using e-ACT compares with the observations of medical specialists. Lung cancer is the third most common cancer in the UK, and the leading cause of cancer-related death.

BioIVT has opened a new blood donor centre in Glasgow at the West of Scotland Science Park, home to more than 40 life science and technology businesses. The new donor centre will be used primarily for producing the company’s leukopaks, which contain concentrated white blood cells and are used for cell and gene therapy research. The new facility is BioIVT’s 11th blood donor centre.

Dundee-based Ubiquigent has appointed Dr Sheelagh Frame, Chief Scientific Officer (CSO), to the Company’s Board of Directors. Dr Sheelagh joined Ubiquigent in 2018 as Head of Biology and was promoted to CSO in 2021. She has over 25 years’ experience in drug discovery and development in oncology, but also spanning inflammation, diabetes, and rare diseases. Prior to joining Ubiqyugent, Dr Sheelagh develop senior roles at Cyclacel Limited and Onyx Pharmaceuticals.

Adrestia Therapeutics has appointed Dr James Osborne as Head of Chemistry. Dr Osborne joins from leading the medicinal chemistry division at Amphista Therapeutics. Prior to that he led small molecule discovery at GW Pharmaceuticalsand held project and medicinal chemistry leadership roles at Astex and Charles River Labs. He brings a strong track record of delivering drug candidates for oncology and CNS disorders. Adrestia is developing synthetic rescue therapies for genetic diseases.

Pangea has appointed Piers Morgan, MA as Chief Corporate Development Officer. He has served as Chairman of Ikarovec, CEO of C4X Discovery, and CFO of CellCentric, COMPASS Pathways, Verona Pharma and UniQure NV.

Osborne Clarke has appointed Trevor Crosse as Partner for its London office. Crosse joins from Marks & Clark where he previously worked with clients such as Genetech and Pfizer and will be part of the Intellectual Property team as Life Science Patent specialist. The appointment seeks to strengthen the firm’s capabilities in the biotech space, which has been traditionally more focused on the telecommunications space.

Cancer Research UK has appointed Prof Ketan Patel as Chief Scientists. Currently, Prof Patel is the Director of the MRC Weatherall Institute for Molecular Medicineand the MRC Molecular Haematology Unit at the University of Oxford. He joins just after CRUK launched its new-long term strategy and will lead the organisation’s scientific efforts.

Aviado Bio has appointed Graeme Fielder, Ph.D. as Chief Operating Officer and Alex Bloom, Ph.D. as Chief Technical Officer. Fielder is part of the founding management team and was Vice President and Head of Operations since 2020. He joined from Audentes Therapeutics (now Astellas Gene Therapies) where he oversaw operations including acquisition. Bloom has served in the role of Senior Vice President Technical Operations. Previously, he led quality and regulatory activities at Gyroscope Therapeutics and has over 10 years of experience in cell and gene therapy development. AviadoBio is developing gene therapies for frontotemporal dementia (FTD) and amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS).

Sphere Fluidics has opened new laboratory facilities at Granta Park (Cambridge), doubling current overall capacity. The first phase of building has opened 7,000 sq ft of space for the company’s single cell analysis and monoclonality assurance systems. The second phase, due to complete by the end of the 2023, will expand the Sphere Fluidics’ footprint further to around 30,000 sq ft. The company is developing single cell analysis systems leveraging its proprietary picodroplet technology. It enables miniaturised assays of target protein secreted from millions of individual cells.

Charles River Laboratories International, Inc has inaugurated a new facility at the Alderley Park site (Cheshire), a plasmid manufacturing facility to assist the development of cell and gene therapies.

Bioscience Managers have appointed David Atkins, MBA, PhD as Managing Partner. Atkins will be responsible for driving the firm’s growth in new and existing geographies as well as in digital health. He joins from being CEO at Congenica(Cambridge, UK) and he has held various senior leadership roles in Johnson & Johnson, Danaher and Medicover. Currently, Atkins serves in the Board of the UK BioIndustry Association, is Trustee of Gene People and a member of the UK National Genomics Board. BioScience Managers has AUD$250m funds under management and a current portfolio of 20+ investments in life sciences, digital health and techbio companies across Europe, the USA and Australia.

Nuneaton-based ValiRx (LON: VAL) has appointed Stella Panu as Non-executive director. Panu will oversee ValiRx’s M&A activity, advising on corporate structure and governance, risk management, and shareholders’ rights. She has developed her career in M&A and investments at Raiffeisen Investment Fund, Aberdeen Asset Management, and Seymour Pierce Ltd, and was founding partner at Maven Capital Partners UK LLP. ValiRx selects and incubates drug candidates and guides them through development (pre-clinical studies to clinic).

The RNA Centre of Excellence and Training Academy has been inaugurated. The global RNA-based therapeutics and vaccines market is set to reach US$ 58.7 million this year, growing to US$ 2.48 billion by 2028. The RNA Centre of Excellence is the only site in the UK currently able to develop and manufacture messenger and self-amplifying RNA vaccines and therapies with the capability to manufacture millions of doses of a vaccine. It will receive £10.65 million from the UK Government’s Vaccine Taskforce. An independent Advisory Committee of RNA experts from industry and academia has also been established – including Prof Robin Shattock of Imperial College London, Dr Lucy Foley CTO at eXmoor Pharma, Prof Dan Bracewell from UCL, and Dr Jonathan Haigh from Fujifilm Diosynth Biotechnologie.

Stevenage Bioscience Catalyst (SBC) has awarded space in its Lab Hotel to Neobe Therapeutics and Genenet Technology. The Lab Hotel provides free laboratory and office accommodation for start-up companies for six months, as well as scientific and business support. Neobe is developing a platform for engineering programmable live biotherapeutics, which can colonise solid tumours and remodel their local microenvironment, potentially making the tumour more accessible to therapies. Genenet is building deep learning neural networks into the gene circuit designs to develop new applications in the cardiac drug development and bioproduction space.

Stevenage Bioscience Catalyst has appointed Marco Delise, PhD as Entrepreneurship and Business Development Director. Dr Delise joins from Better Diary, where he was Head of R&D and Innovation Lead. As first employee, he helped shaping the R&D stream and scaled the company from Pre-Seed to Seed ($2M, 8 people), and to Series A ($22M, 27 people).

Cambridge-based Zetta Genomics has opened its first international office in Valencia, Spain. Earlier this year, Zetta secured £2.5 million in seed funding from Nina Capital, APEX Medical and Cambridge Enterprise. Zetta is working in the large-scale genomic data management space and is developing XetaBase, a certified platform for storing genotypic and clinical data and OpenCB, a full stack open-source software solution enabling large-scale genomic data storage, indexing, analysis and visualisation for non-clinical applications.

Kathryn Chapman, PhD has been appointed Director of Science and Entrepreneurship at the Babraham Research Campus. Dr Chapman joins from being Deputy Director at The Milner Therapeutics Institute (Cambridge, UK). Now, the University of Cambridge’s Institute is recruiting for a new Executive Director and those interested in the role can contact Zoe Robson (Bailey Fisher).

Trinity Investment Management has announced plans to transform 12-acre Grafton Centre into laboratory space. The firm has announced some of the shopping and leisure facilities like the cinema and gym will remain in place.

Pioneer Group has begun work on lab space at the company’s Edinburgh Technopole site. The space will grow to over 238,000 sq ft once complete. Edinburgh Technopole science park is a a 126-acre life sciences campus comprising 10 buildings that provide 108,000 sq ft of lab and office space. Currently, it is home for AMD, BioBest, Roslin CT, Cambrex, and Almac. Completion is expected in August 2023.

ValiRx Plc (LON: VAL) has announced the formation of a new subsidiary company, Cytolytix Ltd. Cytolytix has signed an IP license agreement with Kings College London to progress the preclinical of CLX001. CLX001 is a peptide in a nanoparticle formulation developed for the treatment of triple negative breast cancer, with potential for expansion into ovarian cancer and other solid tumour cancers. The candidate uses a mechanism of action which targets the tumour environment without requiring specific cell markers or gene mutations for activity. Martin Ulmschneider is the academic inventor from Kings College London of CLX001, which represents the first output of ValiRx’s strategy to bring new academic, early-stage projects into the company’s pipeline.

London-headquartered Verona Pharma Plc (NASDAQ: VRNA) has entered into a debt financing facility providing the company with access to up to $150 million from Oxford Finance Llc. The $150 million debt facility replaces the existing $30 million facility with Silicon Valley Bank and will enable Verona to advance the commercialisation activities for ensifentrine. Their lead candidate could potentially be the first therapy for the treatment of respiratory diseases that combines bronchodilator and anti-inflammatory activities in a single compound. Ensifentrine has potential applications in cystic fibrosis, asthma and other respiratory diseases. Nebulised ensifentrine reported positive Phase 3 data in the ENHANCE-2 trial in chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) showing improvement in lung function. Two additional formulations are in Phase 2 (dry powder inhaler and pressurised metered-dose inhaler). Nebulised ensifentrine’s New Drug Application is expected during 2023 H1 in the US.

Genomics Plc has announced a partnership with Our Future Health, the UK’s largest ever health research programme. The aim of the collaboration is to generate polygenic risk scores (PRS) to discover novel ways to prevent, detect and treat common diseases such as dementia or diabetes. The program will leverage Genomics’ leadership in PRS development, recently demonstrating the accuracy of its approach across 53 different common diseases and traits. PRS tests and tools can identify potential patients at elevated risk of disease and match them to the relevant prevention, screening, or treatment pathways. Our Future Health will then gather and connect genetic data and other health-related sources of information across a cohort of 5 million people that reflects the UK population.

Arecor Therapeutics (AIM: AREC) has announced headline results from the second Phase I clinical trial of ultra-rapid actin insulin candidate (AT247). According to the Company’s press release, AT247 has a superior pharmacokinetics profile compared with NovoLog and Fiasp (i.e. accelerated insulin absorption and early exposure), and shows statistically significant difference meeting the trial’s co-primary endpoint. AT247 demonstrated a similar pharmacodynamics profile to Fiasp but the statistically superior co-primary endpoint was not met. The trial also showed AT247 can be safely and effectively delivered via continuous SC infusion using an insulin pump.

Evgen Pharma Plc (AIM: EVG) has licensed the global rights for lead asset SFX-01 in neurodevelopmental disorders and schizophrenia to Switzerland-based Stalicla SA. The financial terms of the agreement include $0.5 million upfront, $0.5 million on completion of the Evgen-sponsored human volunteer Phase 1 study, and milestone payments up to commercial launch ($26.5 million, including $5 million on IND granting by the FDA). Total milestones of $160.5m are payable to Evgen, which retains the global rights for all other indications. Stalicla has a unique, proprietary technology to identify ASD patients who are most likely to respond to SFX-01 (a patented formulation of synthetic sulforaphane and alpha-cyclodextrin), thus bypassing patient heterogeneity.

London-headquartered Autolus (NASDAQ: AUTL) has announced Moderna (NASDAQ: MRNA) has exercised its option to license Autolus’ proprietary binders against an undisclosed immuno-oncology target for the development and commercialisation of mRNA therapeutics. Autolus has received an option exercise payment and is eligible to receive development and commercial milestone payments for each product successfully commercialised, as well as royalties on net sales. Autolus is developing programmed T cell therapies for the treatment of haematological malignancies and solid tumours.

Redx Pharma Plc (AIM: REDX) has announced first patient dosed in Phase 2a trial for RXC007. RXC007 is a Rho Associated Coiled-Coil Containing Protein Kinase 2 (ROCK2) selective inhibitor. The trial is assessing its potential as a treatment for patients with idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF). ROCK2 is a key point in a cell signalling pathway, believed to be central to fibrosis. ROCK2 selectivity is important to avoid systemic hypotension, a serious cardiovascular side effect The Phase 2a study is a 12-week multi-cohort, randomised, double-blind, placebo-controlled dose ranging study to assess early signals of efficacy as well as the safety and tolerability of RXC007 in IPF patients. RXC007 is the second wholly-owned Redx asset to enter Phase 2 trials and one of five compounds at the clinical development stage.

Illumina (LON: 0J8Z) has entered a collaboration with AstraZeneca (LON, NASDAQ: AZN) aiming to align their artificial intelligence development efforts. The partnership seeks to combine genomic analysis and drug discovery research. The collaboration will start with Illumina’s AI-based tools for interpreting genomic data, PrimateAI (deep neural network trained on genetic variants from animals and humans), and SpliceAI (open-source deep learning tool designed to discover overlooked and noncoding mutations related to disease). PrimateAI and SpliceAI will be used in combination with AstraZeneca’s Jarvis, which scans the genome’s noncoding regions for potentially troubling variations.

How IP Group went from “doing cleantech” to “having a dedicated platform that only does cleantech, is committed to cleantech, and that’s not going to change”. Brilliant conversation between Toby Young, Managing Partner of Bailey Fisher, and Rob Trezona, Founding Partner of Kiko Ventures and cleantech investor for over a decade.

Dexcom’s real-time continuous glucose monitor is now available in the U.K., Ireland, Germany, Austria and Hong Kong to help people with diabetes to digitally track blood sugar.

How DNA from our mitochondria gets into our genomes or how Genomics England’s 100,000 Genomes Project is a true national treasure that does not get nearly enough attention.

This year, four new gene therapies were approved. The Economist’s Natasha Loderexplains the safety concerns and market challenges that must be overcome to make the genetic revolution possible (Babbage, The Economist’s podcast).

How Artificial Intelligence and neuroscience drive each other forwards.