Life on the edge! Friends: many academic spinouts have raised funds this week - from the Wellcome Sanger Institute, University of Cambridge, University of Warwick, Leeds and Imperial College. It's rather timely that all of this is happening a few weeks before the UK Government publishes the results of the review of university spinout policies, so hold your breath until then. Okyo Pharma is delisting from the London Stock Exchange. Sigh… yet another company leaving UK public markets. But let’s switch to the good news, three for the occupants of 8 Bloomsbury Street, London: Syncona has appointed Roel Bulthuis, former Senior VP and Managing Director of M-Ventures, as Managing Partner and Head of Investments. Its company, Resolution Therapeutics, has also expanded the team at VP level to double down on its mission of developing macrophage cell therapies for advanced liver disease. And last but definitely not least, Syncona has backed Mosaic Therapeutics, leading a £22.5 million Series A with participation from Cambridge Innovation Capital.

On the topic of academic spinouts, eight Midlands universities have launched Midlands Mindforge, a £250 million investment vehicle to fund technology startups derived from research. It includes Loughborough University, the University of Birmingham, and the University of Warwick, among others. BlueYard is back to invest in the UK by backing the Oxford-based Sensible Biotechnologies, and Owlstone Medical has launched OMED Health, a patient-centric digital platform that uses breath-based analysis technology for gut health monitoring. Discovery Park Ventureshas added two companies to its portfolio: AbsoluteAi and Oxford Medical Products. Hoxton Ventures has spun out H Tree Capital, a new London-based deep biotech fund led by Rob Kniaz (Hoxton Ventures co-founder) and Vanela Bushi. Moreover, the UK Government has announced an additional £50 million to support early career researchers funded by medical research charities. Incubate Bio has entered two new collaboration agreements with London-based Jira.ai and Manchester-based QV Bioelectronics to leverage its platform (ALaSCA), which uses formal causal methods to identify optimal nodes for drug and other treatment interventions. For those still wondering why it is crucial to get university spinout policies right, know that the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence has recommended olaparib, the world’s first marketed DNA-repair enzyme inhibitor, for early breast cancer and metastatic prostate cancer. Olaparib's discovery was underpinned by research from Prof Stephen Jackson’s laboratory in Cambridge and his spin-out company, KuDOS Pharmaceuticals. Interesting readings features a wonderful piece on large language models (LLMs) applied to biology and chemistry, a conversation with Dr Jason Mellad (CEO and co-founder of Start Codon), and a piece about precision financing. Beyond Biotech, take a trip to our beloved Saatchi Gallery to experience the most comprehensive graffiti & street art exhibition in the UK. Music by the Red Hot Chili Peppers to try and convince spring to stay with us. Let’s dive in!

Wellcome Sanger Institute-spinout Cambridge-based Mosaic Therapeutics has raised £22.5 million Series A. The round was led by Syncona and participated by Cambridge Innovation Capital. Mosaic Therapeutics aims to develop oncology therapeutics against genetically informed targets. The startup was co-founded by Dr Mathew Garnett (Head of the Translational Cancer Genomics Laboratory, Wellcome Sanger Institute), Dr Adrian Ibrahim (former Head of Technology Translation, Wellcome Sanger Institute) and Dr Emile Voest (Chairman of the Board of Cancer Core Europe and Independent Director on the Board of Sanofi). The company is led by Brian Gladsden (CEO), former Senior Vice President and Novartis veteran. Chris Hollowood, PhD (CEO, Syncona) has been appointed as Chair and Magdalena Jonikas, PhD (Lead Partner, Syncona) will join the Board of Directors. The company us­ing advanced computational methods to perform unbiased analysis of large screens and datasets and identify whether a sin­gle tar­get or a com­bi­na­tion might have the great­est im­pact. The investment will enable Mosaic Therapeutics to focus on building out its management team, its operations, and progressing its lead programmes through preclinical development to IND-enabling studies. Mosaic expects to enter the clinic in 18-24 months.

University of Cambridge-spinout NoBACZ Healthcare has raised £2.7 million in seed funding. The investment was led by The Yield Lab and participated by Innovate UK’s Combined Investor Partnership, the Cambridge & Peterborough Combined Authority, and existing investors Cambridge Enterprise, Martlet Capital and Cambridge Angels. NoBACZ Healthcare has developed proprietary technology called Precision Liquid Bandages: antimicrobial, natural, food-grade materials used to cover difficult-to-treat wounds in hard-to-dress areas of the body in dairy and beef cattle. The proceedings of the investment will be used to expand the product for the needs of horses and companion animals. The company aims to develot solutions for human wounds in the future.

Oxford-based Sensible Biotechnologies has raised $4.2 million pre-seed funding. The round was led by BlueYard Capital and participated by Y Combinator, Amino Collective, Civilization Ventures, Recode Health Ventures, ZAKAand angel investors as Florian Schuster, Jason C. Foster and other life science executives. The fundraise follows the announcement of a strategic partnership with Ginkgo Bioworks (NYSE: DNA). Sensible Biotechnologies is developing a cell-based platform for cost-efficient and scalable manufacturing of high-quality mRNA. Its platform aims to overcome the major hurdles of the cell-free mRNA manufacturing methods called In Vitro Transcription (IVT). The funding will be used to optimise and scale its mRNA manufacturing platform and mRNA design capabilities.

Cambridge-based SolasCure has raised £10.9 million Series B. The funding round was led by Seneca Partners and participated by BRAIN Biotech AG, EVA Pharma, Jonathan Milner, Wealth Club, and other angel investors. Solas cure is developing a hydrogel containing a recombinant enzyme derived from maggots which aims to accelerate wound debridement. The funding will support the development of Aurase Wound Gel and progress toward further Phase II clinical trials of innovative wound debriding enzyme. The pre-clinical trial results of SolasCure's Aurase Wound Gel showed preliminary evidence that supports its new enzymatic debridement product for use in chronic wounds.

University of Leeds-spinout LC AuxeTec is raising a £2 million seed funding round led by Northern Gritstone. LC AuxeTec has developed a proprietary material made from liquid crystal elastomers. The material, similar to the Achilles tendon thickens when stretching, making it more durable and able to absorb impacts. The proceedings of the round will be used to establish the team and test the material in commercial applications, including wind turbine polymers and automotive glass. The company is founded by Prof Helen Gleeson, former Head of Department of Physics at the University of Leeds) and is led by Robert Gunn (former-CEO at Enceladus Ventures) as Chief Executive Officer.

University of Warwick-spinout Medherant has secured £2.9 million investment. The funding was led by Mercia Asset Management. The startup was founded by Prof David Haddleton (Polymer Chemistry) and is developing a testosterone patch designed for women experiencing menopause symptoms. Currently, there are no approved testosterone products in UK, Europe or USA for women. The proceedings of the round will be used to The funding will be used to begin clinical trials. Medherant also collaborates with pharmaceutical companies in developing transdermal patch products for already approved drugs.

Discovery Park Ventures has disclosed investments in AbsoluteAi and Oxford Medical Products (details not disclosed). AbsoluteAi provides tools to help drug developers improve drug design optimisation from the start of the discovery process and is also backed by Sustainable Ventures. AbsoluteAI is currently raising a  £1.5m seed round. Oxford Medical Products has developed a novel weight-loss product Sirona (a self-expanding pill which occupies physical space in the stomach) and is also backed by Ada Ventures, Nesta VC, Selvedge Venture and OION. The funding makes a significant contribution to the growth trajectory of both firms as they work towards their next milestones. Discovery Park Ventures was established in 2022 and plans to expand up to £25 million.

London-based Pastoral.ai has raised £205,000 in pre-seed funding. The investment was led by SFC Capital and Sturgeon Capital. Pastoral provides regenerative farming technology to livestock farmers and ranchers. Its platform offers insights based on real-time data to help farmers transition towards sustainable and regenerative farming practices. Pastoral was initially developed in partnership with the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and recently graduated from the UNDP’s Cultiv@te Incubate for Innovation in Sustainable Agriculture. The funding will be used to expand its team and continue developing its technology platform. In addition, the company has just been selected to be part of ‘Plug and Play Topeka’, a three-month animal health/ag-tech startup program in Kansas’ capital city led by Go Topeka.

London-based Vitarka Therapeutics raised £1.27 million in funding. The investment was led by SOSV, the UK Innovation & Science Seed Fund, and Innovate UK. The company is developing RNAi therapies leveraging its proprietary tumour-targeted platform technology (EndoPore). Vitarka currently focuses on intracellular targets in the context of solid tumours The proceedings of the round will accelerate pre-clinical validation, pharmacokinetics studies, and large-scale manufacturing. Vitarka has recently raised a £250,000 grant and is backed by Discovery Park’s investment fund, Discovery Park Ventures.

Imperial College-spinout OSSTEC has secured £1.2 million in funding. The investment was participated by the Imperial College Enterprise Fund, SFC Capital and OION Growth Fund. OSSTEC was formed through Imperial College London's Venture Catalyst Challenge and MedTech SuperConnector programmes. The startup is developing 3D printed smart bone implants for knee replacements. Unlike solid metal implants, OSSTEC's porous titanium structures are designed to replicate the way natural bone works, allowing for better healing and a stronger bond between implant and bone. The funding will be used for regulatory testing and clinical trials aiming to provide younger patients with longer-lasting implants.

Edinburgh-based Bioliberty has secured £2.2 million investment. The funding round was led by Archangels, with participation from Eos Advisory, Old College Capital, and Hanna Capital SEZC. Bioliberty is developing a soft robotic glove that can help stroke patients regain upper limb mobility. The 'Lifeglov' measures key metrics related to upper limb mobility and offers patients tailored exercises to improve natural hand strength. With the new funding, Bioliberty aims to complete the product's trial development and finalise their platform while preparing for a US sales push. According to the company, the Lifeglov is "currently unique in the market" and has potential for use beyond upper limb rehabilitation, including lower limb therapy.

Phlo Technologies has acquired the UK arm of US-based healthcare unicorn Truepill. Phlo is now the market leader in the provision of B2B pharmacy services in the UK, where the market is on a strong post-pandemic upward trajectory. Phlo has acquired Truepill’s partnerships with several of the UK’s most popular digital healthcare providers, as well as their technology stack, including their full set of APIs and prescribing technology. Phlo has also acquired Truepill UK’s NHS patient base and plans to increase its headcount.

London-based Limerston Capital has acquired Concept Life Sciences, a drug discovery and development organisation, through its new fund Limerston Capital Partners II. Concept Life Sciences is a contract research organisation serving the global research and development market with clients in the pharmaceutical and biotechnology sectors. The team of around 300 scientists operates from state-of-the-art laboratory facilities across the UK. The new growth strategy will see Concept Life Sciences build and expand its services to a new and existing client base. Limerston Capital targets UK mid-market companies with EBITDA of between £5 million and £15 million.

Okyo Pharma (LSE: OKYO) is delisting from the London Stock Exchange due to the low trading volumes of its shares, but its American Depositary Shares will remain on the NASDAQ exchange. Okyo Pharma is a drugmaker focusing on developing treatments for inflammatory eye diseases. Its departure from the LSE comes amid concerns about London's ability to attract new businesses and retain stock market listings.

Almost 800,000 new startups were founded in 2022 (4.5% increase from 2021). However, Northern Ireland saw a slight decrease in new business registrations. London remains the top destination for startups, but other regions show encouraging signs of tech growth. E-commerce and health tech saw the biggest increase in new businesses, likely due to online shopping and digital health habits. In the tech sector specifically, the number of new businesses increased by 22% in 2022.

Imperial College spinout Signatur Biosciences (YC S22) has raised funding (details not disclosed). The investment was raised by Riceberg Ventures and Y Combinator. Signatur Biosciences aims to make healthcare more accessible through affordable tests for complex diseases. The company has developed proprietary “PCRchitecture technology”, which uses the molecular machinery of PCR to condense all the work of detecting and interpreting a panel of RNA biomarkers into a single test.

Hoxton Ventures has span out H Tree Capital, a new London-based deep biotech fund led by Rob Kniaz (Hoxton Ventures co-founder) and Vanela Bushi. The fund will be independent to Hoxton Ventures and will have a dedicated strategy and operating model. The fund will perform early stage and follow on investments on European/UK startups.

Eight Midlands universities have launched Midlands Mindforge, a £250 million investment vehicle to fund technology startups derived from research. It includes Loughborough University, the University of Birmingham and the University of Warwick, among others. Mindforge aims to provide funding and support to early-stage startups in the region with a focus on AI and clean technology based on university-level research. The fund welcomes investment from institutional investors, corporate partners, and individuals. Midlands currently accounts for 15% of high growth SME businesses, but attracts only 5% of investment value. The launch reflects a shift among universities towards commercialisation of research and regional economy strategy, as the government turns to the sector as a growth engine driving levelling-up and boosting productivity.

British Patient Capital's mandate has been extended until 2033, recognising its track record with total commitments over £10.7 billion. This government extension will enable the company to back innovative companies and scale up. British Patient Capital is the largest domestic investor into UK venture capital, and its investment is likely to generate economic benefits of £5.1 billion by 2030/31. The Long-Term Investment for Technology and Science (LIFTS) initiative was also announced, with the potential for government investment into successful bids and potential investment collaboration with British Patient Capital.

British Business Bank is backing a 12-week programme for Welsh startups’ investor readiness, run by Tramshed Tech. The state-owned institution supports small and medium-sized enterprises across the United Kingdom. Tramshed Tech provides office space and programmes to early-stage startups in Cardiff. The Investor Readiness programme is aimed at pre-seed startups in Wales looking to plan for the next stages of growth. At the end of the course, startups will present their tech to a network of investors.

Canaan has raised a $650 million Canaan XIII fund. Canaan XIII is intended to support startups through exits including merger and acquisition (M&A) activities and initial public offerings (IPOs). Canaan now has a total asset under management of $6.8 billion. Canaan has seen ten IPOs, four public listings, and eight M&A exits within its portfolio and generated nearly $1.7 billion of realizations. Canaan XIII will invest in seed and early-stage technology companies spanning enterprise, consumer, frontier tech, and fintech. The healthcare effort for Canaan XIII will be dedicated to company creation and early investments in areas that Canaan believes represent highest unmet clinical and medical needs and in which new medicines can significantly enhance patient care and outcomes.

The UK Government has announced an additional £50 million to support early career researchers funded by medical research charities, on top of the £20 million announced last year. The funding will support over 1,200 PhD students, post-doctoral fellows, and those starting out on a career in research. This funding extension is in recognition of the impact of COVID on fundraising charities. The scheme started last year supported 443 researchers at 64 institutions in all regions of the UK, and across 80 Association of Medical Research Charities member charities. The funding will also provide additional support to charities funding early career researchers in UK institutions.

The UK BioIndustry Association (BIA) has recommended National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) to improve patient access to innovative treatments for rare diseases. The BIA conducted primary research to understand public opinion on how treatments for rare diseases should be funded and evaluated. The BIA indicates that NICE should undertake primary research on the social value associated with treating rare diseases, a modular update review with a specific focus on rarity, and reconsider the case for a rarity modifier or a sliding scale of incremental cost-effectiveness ratio (ICER) thresholds within its single technology appraisal (STA) process. In addition, NHS England, the Department of Health and Social Care, and HM Treasury should commit to working with NICE to support the implementation of these changes.

Oxford-based Orbit Discovery and New Jersey-based Evergreen Discovery have entered a collaboration to identify cell targeting peptides to advance the development of novel radiopharmaceuticals. The collaboration will leverage Orbit's peptide display technologies to find peptide leads specific to tumour-related targets of interest. Evergreen will focus on subsequent development of the peptides for clinical use. The partnership will help move targeted radiopharmaceuticals into the clinic more rapidly.

Cambridge-based Owlstone Medical has launched OMED Health, a patient-centric digital platform that uses breath-based analysis technology for gut health monitoring and personalised health plans. OMED Health's gut health tests detect small amounts of hydrogen and methane gases on breath, providing key insights into gut health and potential conditions. The breath analyser and mobile app enable tracking of symptoms and progress over time. The platform aims to help the billion people globally with digestive health issues achieve normal lives.

London-based Jiva.ai and Incubate Bio have partnered to integrate their AI software platforms to enable clinicians to identify risk factors and explore the mechanisms behind complex diseases. This collaboration will offer clinicians a simple and actionable workflow to achieve end-to-end insights. Incubate Bio's ALaSCA platform uses formal causal methods to identify optimal nodes for drug and other treatment interventions, improving the efficiency of targeting any phenotypic process. ALaSCA adds a second step by allowing clinicians to explore how and why these prioritised risk factors affect disease progression. Jiva.ai offers explainable AI solutions at scale with no-code requirements, empowering non-technical users to create, validate, test, and deploy models based on their data for real-world use.

Manchester-based QV Bioelectronics and Incubate bio have entered into a strategic collaboration for the treatment of glioblastoma. QV Bioelectronics will use Incubate Bio’s ALaSCA software platform to identify key drivers in complex biological processes. The software will be integrated into QV Bioelectronics' preclinical R&D workflow to optimise experimental throughput. The companies hope to improve care for life-threatening diseases such as brain tumors. QV Bioelectronics aims to deliver longer, better quality lives for brain tumor patients with their implanted electric field therapy, GRACE, which aims to address the unmet clinical need of glioblastoma. Their therapy aims to change the paradigm of GBM treatment and significantly extend life expectancy without impacting patient quality of life.

Alderly Park-based Infex Therapeutics has announced interim safety and tolerability results for RESP-X. RESP-X is a anti-virulence candidate theray to treat Pseudomonas aeruginosa infections in non-cystic fibrosis bronchiectasis patients. The first cohort of eight healthy volunteers in the ongoing Phase I clinical trial received doses of 1mg/kg and reported no serious adverse events or treatment-related trends in vital signs, ECG, clinical laboratory evaluations, or physical evaluations.

Syncona Ltd has appointed Roel Bulthuis as Managing Partner and Head of Investments. With over 20 years of experience, Roel previously served as Managing Partner and Head of Healthcare at Inkef Capital and Senior VP and Managing Director of Merck Group’s M-Ventures. Additionally, Bulthuis' extensive European investment network will benefit Syncona as it progresses towards a diversified portfolio.

Chesterford-headquartered Arecor (LON: AREC) has appointed Dr Manjit Rahelu as Chief Business Officer. Dr Rahelu has over 25 years of experience in product-focused clinical-stage licensing and M&A. He will oversee Arecor's business and corporate development strategy.

Cambridge-headquartered Bicycle Therapeutics (NASDAQ: BCYC) has appointed Santiago Arroyo, PhD as Chief Development Officer and Jennifer Perry, Pharm. D. as Senior Vice President, Commercial. Dr Arroyo brings over 20 years of biopharmaceutical industry experience and was previously Chief Medical Officer at Momenta Pharmaceuticals, which was acquired by Johnson & Johnson in 2020. Ms. Perry has over 20 years of experience in pharma and biotech with 15 years in oncology (TG Therapeutics and GSK/Tesaro).

Edinburgh-based Ingenza has appointed Steve Jones as its new CFO. Jones has over 25 years of industry experience, including senior finance roles in various business sectors. He is a chartered accountant and fellow of the ICAEW. Jones has worked in the life sciences field before, including as finance director of a private pathology laboratory during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Oxford-based Ochre Bio has appointed Dr David Coughlan as VP of Translational Development and Chinwe Ukomadu, MD, PhD as an Observer on its Board of Directors. Dr Coughlan will translate Ochre Bio’s discovery platform and human-based translational models into RNA therapies ready for clinical development. Dr Ukomadu will act as a liaison between the company’s Scientific Strategy Board and Board of Directors. Ochre Bio is dedicated to developing RNA therapies to tackle chronic liver disease and testing in live human donor livers.

Takeda has appointed Miles Gerson as Executive Investment Director and Partner.

Guildford-based SiSaf Ltd has appointed Dr Richard Goodfellow to the Board of Directors. Dr Goodfellow brings with him a vast range of experience in the life science industry, including leadership roles in business development and CEO of Scancell, an AIM listed clinical stage immuno-oncology. In additionn, he has served as advisor to SiSaf’s CEO since 2021.

Oxford-based Nucleome Therapeutics has appointed Dr Jonny Wray as Senior Vice President of Data Science and Informatics. Dr Gray has over 30 years of expertise in drug discovery informatics, data science, and computational biology. He previously served as Chief Technology Officer of e-therapeutics plc and held leadership roles in bioinformatics and software engineering at Five Prime Therapeutics and BD Clontech (US).

London-based LabGenius has appointed two new scientific advisors: Prof Hendrik-Tobias Arkenau and Prof Victor Greiff. Prof Arkenau currently serves as Chief Medical Officer and Global Head of Drug Development at Ellipses Pharma and will help LabGenius to develop its scientific strategy relating to its pipeline of immune-cell engagers. Prof Greiff is an Associate Professor at the University of Oslo whose work focuses on machine learning tools for analysing T-cell repertoires. He will enhance LabGenius’ platform development efforts.

Cambridge-based Optibrium has appointed Dr Hamed Tabatabaei Ghomi as Head of Research. He brings extensive experience in computational engineering and design from Illumina, as well as academic expertise in the chem- and bioinformatics space. Hamed will lead the research efforts and will work with the Software Development and Business Development teams to develop valuable drug discovery tools and services, such as new metabolism modelling capabilities for the Company’s lead product, StarDrop.

Oxford Science Enterprises has appointed Claire LaRocca joins as Head of Communications. LaRocca has over 10 years' experience in communications and was Director of Communications and Head of Client Content for Wealthsimple. She has advised global companies including Facebook and Microsoft.

Resolution Therapeutics has expanded its CMC capabilities with key hires. The company has appointed Damian Marshall, PhD as VP Analytical Development, Adeyemi Afuwape, PhD as Head CMC Regulatory Affairs, Anna-Kaisa Lehtivarjo as Head of Quality, Sarah McCrory, PhD as Head of Project Management and Steven Howe, PhD as VP Process Development. Resolution Therapeutics is a Syncona-backed company developing macrophage cell therapies to treat advanced liver disease.

The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) has recommended olaparib for early breast cancer and metastatic prostate cancer after negotiations between NHS England and AstraZeneca. People with high-risk early breast cancer that have inherited faults in their BRCA1 or BRCA2 genes, and adults with previously treated hormone-relapsed metastatic prostate cancer with the same BRCA mutations are eligible for treatment. Olaparib is a PARP inhibitor that blocks the enzyme which repairs damaged DNA, preventing cancer cells from growing and spreading, and leaving healthy cells less affected. This piece explains the discovery of the drug at the University of Cambridge Stephen Jackson’s laboratory.

Cambridge-headquartered AstraZeneca is paying KYM Biosciences $63 million upfront for the global rights to an early-phase antibody-drug conjugate (ADC) targeting the Claudin18.2 cancer target. The acquisition, marks the second time AstraZeneca has invested in this space, having already paid $25 million upfront for a bispecific antibody. The new asset complements the previous one by approaching the target from a different angle. However, both of AstraZeneca’s candidates are currently behind Astellas, which is the front-runner in this field. Astellas’ anti-CLDN18.2 antibody zolbetuximab has already met its endpoints in a pair of phase 3 trials conducted late last year.

London-headquartered GSK has lost a UK court case and must pay royalties to AstraZeneca on the sales of ovarian cancer drug Zejula. The case dates back to a licensing deal Tesaro made with AstraZeneca in 2012 which led to the approval of Zejula in 2017. AstraZeneca claimed royalties on all Zejula sales, but GSK's Tesaro argued that royalties are only due on sales for uses covered by the licensed patents. Zejula competes with AstraZeneca and Merck's Lynparza and Clovis' Rubraca, though all three rivals have withdrawn late-line indications over safety concerns.

Cambridge-headquartered InvoX Pharma's F-star has entered into a second licence agreement with Takeda for a bispecific antibody directed towards an undisclosed immuno-oncology target. Takeda will be responsible for all research, development, and commercialisation activities under the agreement. This agreement represents the second option that Takeda has exercised under an evaluation and licence agreement with F-star. F-star and Takeda entered into a licence agreement for a different bispecific antibody in July 2022.

London-headquartered Avacta Group plc (AIM: AVCT) has opened two clinical investigator sites, Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center in New York and Fred Hutch Cancer Center in Seattle, under its US Investigational New Drug (IND) Application for the phase 1 clinical trial of AVA6000, Avacta's lead pre|CISION drug candidate for the treatment of soft tissue sarcoma. In addition, the company reports the first patient has been dosed in the fifth cohort of Avacta Group's AVA6000 phase I trial.

London-headquartered Small Pharma (TSXV: DMT; OTCQB: DMTTF) has announced positive six-month data from a Phase IIa clinical trial of SPL026 for Major Depressive Disorder. Patients received the Company's N,N-Dimethyltryptamine during a clinical session with supportive therapy. Among the patients who had achieved remission within three months with SPL026, 64% sustained remission to six months.

Alderly Park-headquartered Evgen Pharma (AIM: EVG) has announced its collaboration with the University of Michigan to investigate the potential anti-tumour effects of SFX-01 in colorectal cancer. The study aims to evaluate the in vivo effects of SFX-01 in models of colorectal cancer and investigate the effects and mechanism of action of SFX-01 on organoid growth, morphology, stemness and inflammatory markers using normal and malignant patient-derived organoids and tumour tissue. The initial results are expected at the end of 2023.

Cambridge-headquartered AstraZeneca reports Lynparza and Imfinzi combination improves progression-free survival in newly diagnosed patients with advanced ovarian cancer without BRCA mutations in DUO-O Phase III trial. Positive high-level results from the trial showed treatment with a combination of LYNPARZA, IMFINZI, chemotherapy and bevacizumab demonstrated a statistically significant and clinically meaningful improvement in progression-free survival versus chemotherapy plus bevacizumab in newly diagnosed patients with advanced high-grade epithelial ovarian cancer without BRCA mutations.

That Medic Podcast has talked to Dr Jason Mellad (CEO and co-founder of Start Codon) about his passion about translating lab-based scientific advancements into technology with clinical use.

Critics say University of Oxford takes too much equity from researchers who launch companies, particularly compared with some of its counterparts. Despite creating the most startups of any university in the UK, research shows it lags behind its closest rival when it comes to producing big companies. UK government launched a review of university spinout policies in March 2023. Sifted has published about this.

Creating new drug candidates is a lengthy process. Large language models (LLMs) that understand biology and chemistry text help predict the 3D structures of proteins and generate molecules. AI-based discovery has resulted in 15 products in clinical development out of about 160 programs. NVIDIA BioNeMo Service features nine generative AI models for early drug discovery, such as 3D protein structure prediction and small molecule generation.

European VCs are investing in a new generation of biotech companies that combine life sciences and software. These companies are building platforms or infrastructure for drug discovery, disease diagnosis, and food design. Investing in such companies have resulted in nearly $18 billion in funding by VCs since the start of 2020. Europe's research institutions provide a good pipeline of specialist talent and ideas to fuel successful companies. However, scaling these companies comes with a unique set of challenges.

A detailed article published in Nature discusses precision financing and features Sofinnova's Papiernik, Hemab Therapeutics, John Maraganore, and Resalis Therapeutics, among many others.