Sun keeps shining in the AI-enabled drug discovery (AIDD) field. IQ Capital has backed Boltzbit seed funding round (and that is not all they have been up to!). If AIDD makes you feel a little lost, worry not, this week’s Interesting Readssection has got you sorted. Coatue Ventures is coming to London and is bringing along a veteran GP. Will they double down in biotech? Busy week in Oxford. Evox Therapeutics has attracted a world expert in RNAi as strategic advisor. Blackstone and Sanofi have signed a $330 million deal. Also, we need to talk about lab space shortage in the UK biotech clusters.

Boltzbit raised £1.6 million seed round led by IQ capital and SpeedInvest. They are building a no-code AI solution named ‘Generative AI’, a neural learning platform aiming to allow users to create AI models without writing code.

Cambridge-spin out DIOSynVax (Digital Immune Optimised Synthetic Vaccines) secured $42 million from the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations (CEPI) to develop broad-spectru, Betacoronavirus mRNA vaccine.

It takes two for tango: investment giant Coatue Ventures is coming to London, and veteran VC Sarah Cannon will join a general partner. The firm manages $38 billion. In February, 2021, Coatue seconded Supplant Series A funding round, a London-based startup developing a biotechnology platform that produces sugar substitutes. The fund focuses on SaaS, fintech and climate/food-tech and has

London-based Sapphire Capital Partners launched Pioneer Life Sciences EIS Knowledge Intensive Fund to invest in early-stage life sciences business. Minimum subscription £25,000.

Oxford Science Enterprises followed on Amsterdam-based Scenic Biotech $31 million Series A funding round. The round was co-led by Eir Ventures, BioMedPartners and Vesalius Biocapital. The funds will enable Scenic Biotech transitioning into a development stage company.

IQ capital and Surrey Capital Partners led AiM Medical Robotics’ $3.4 million seed round. The company is based in Florida (US) and aims to improve patient outcomes developing advance neurosurgery and intraoperative precision robotics.

The Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council (BBSRC) and Medical Research Council (MRC) teamed up to create UK Ageing Networks. The network is led by Prof. Arne Akbar (UCL) and will be supported with £2 million initial funding.

Oxford University launched the first UK pilot study of newborn screening for spinal muscular atrophy (SMA). The study is funded by Novartis Gene Therapies, Roche Ltd and the Oxford Biomedical Research Centre.

London-based Kheiron Medical Technologies named one of the World’s Most Innovative Companies for 2022. The company was established in 2016 and is backed by Atomico, among others. Kheiron develops AI cancer diagnostics, initially targeting female breast cancer.

Biotech startups & dairy industry: an overview. There are a number of caveats for animal-free dairy to succeed, such as the regulatory path. It takes 18 months approximately for the EMA to approve novel foods but no European company has done it yet. Things are moving forward at London-based Better Dairy.

Amphista Therapeutics to open 10,000 sq ft R&D space in Cambridge-based Granta Park. The company was founded by Advent Life Sciences in 2017 and is a leading player in the targeted protein degradation field.

Syncona-backed OMass Therapeutics established Scientific Advisory Board incorporating Prof. Dame Carol Robinson(Chair and OMass founder; Founding Director of the Kavli Institute for Nanoscience Discovery at Oxford), Chas Bountra (former VP and Head of Biology at GSK), Fiona Marshall (Global Head of Discovery, Preclinical and Translational Medicine at MSD and leader in the field of GPCRs), James Naismith (Professor of structural biology at the University of Oxford and Director of the Rosalind Franklin Institute), and John Yates (Ernest W. Hahn Professor in the Departments of Molecular Medicine and Neurobiology at Scripps Research).

Oxford-based Evox Therapeutics incorporated John Maranganore as Strategic Advisor. Maranganore was founding CEO of Alnylam Pharmaceuticals and brought to market the first RNAi drugs.

Oxford Science Enterprises signed agreement with Lothbury Property Trust to build 30,000 sq ft R&D facilities in the Oxford city center. Completion expected during 2024. Also, we need to talk about lab space shortage in the UK biotech clusters.

MiroBio, Oxford-based biotech startup advancing checkpoint agonist therapies to restore immune balance, announced new appointments for their leadership team: Sanjay Keswani, MBBS, FRCP as Chief Medical Officer and Lynne Murray, Ph.D., MBA, as Chief Scientific Officer.

Top 10 drugs losing US exclusivity in 2022: Revlimid (lenalidomide, BMS, multiple myeloma); Lucentis (ranibizumab, Roche, wet age-related macular degeneration); Vimpat (lacosamide, UCB, partial-onset seizures); Alimta (pemetrexed disodium, Eli Lilly, pleural mesothelioma and nonsquamous non-small cell lung cancer); Restasis (cyclosporine, AbbVie, ocular inflammation associated with keratoconjunctivitis sicca); Velcade (bortezomib, Takeda, multiple myeloma and mantle cell lymphoma), Vasostrict (vasopressin, Endo International, diabetes insipidus); Abraxane (paclitaxel, BMS, breast cancer, non-small cell lung cancer, pancreatic cancer); Pradaxa (dabigatran etexilate mesylate, Boehringer Ingelheim, atrial fibrillation, deep vein thrombosis, pulmonary embolism); and Combigan (brimonidine/timolol, Abbvie, glaucoma)

Blackstone inked $330 million into Sanofi’s anti-CD38 antibody Sarclisa® development program to treat patients with multiple myeloma.

FDA lifted clinical hold on **Selecta’s BioSciences** Phase I/II study of methylmalonic acidemia gene therapy.

Twist Biosciences and Kriya Therapeutics signed an agreement to discover novel antibodies delivered using adeno-associated (AAV) gene therapy in oncology applications.

AI-enabled drug discovery attracted $4.1 billion in 2021 alone. Amee Kapadia (Cantos Ventures) has crafted an excellent introduction to the field.

Biotech 2050 talks to David Berry, founder, CEO and Board Director of Valo Health, a comapny aiming to transform radically the drug discovery and development process. Berry serves also as General Partner at Flagship Pioneering and key player in the foundation of Flagship Labs.

The opportunity for Syntheic Biology as part of the UK Life Sciences vision, by Mark Kotter CEO at bit.bio.

The trade offs of thinking as a founder, by Felix Plapperer, Principal at Paua Ventures.