Neoantigens! Grey Wolf Therapeutics and NeoPhore are both exploring different avenues to generate neoantigens, that is, non-self cell surface markers which are very sensitive to T cell checkpoints. All to make tumours more visible to the immune response. For now, the exploration will be fuelled by $49 million and $26 million series B funding respectively. TTP has finally launched Cellular Origins and Edinburgh-based Blackford is going to be acquired by Bayer. Great news, no doubt, but let’s have a think about UK businesses bringing R&D activities overseas and the future of late R&D in the country. This week’s section for Investment Funds & Accelerators incorporates the worrying tag “& Public Policy”. Or rather, the absence of it. The Government keeps thankfully U-turning on some of the latests decisions that could compromise the prospects of UK becoming a life science superpower. Meanwhile, it has created the Advance Research and Invention Agency (ARIA). I must confess it reminded me to that old Sovietic joke: If you want something to stop working, set up a committee. At least, some of the brightest minds have been appointed to the Board, so if ARIA has any chance to become an asset, it will be thanks to that team. Also, have we really run out of names so a science agency needs to be called ARIA? More on naming. Friends, we need to put an end to referring to the Oxford-Cambridge Arc as UK Silicon Valley, even Grant Shapps thinks it is wrong. And yet, that is a discussion for another day (and probably over a Negroni or two), so let’s move on. British Partient Capital and Mubadala Investment Company have invested in SV Biotech Crossover Opportunities Fund and the British Business Bank has announced a £130 million Wales fund and a £200 million South West fund. Happy days for the joint venture KPMG Acceleris as it has been granted approval by the Financial Conduct Authority. The UK BioIndustry Association has appointed five Board Directors and John E Milad has joined Downing LLP as Partner and Co-Head of the Healthcare Ventures team. Congratulations to 52 North Health for the appointment of Prof Sir Leszek Borysiewicz (Chair of Cancer Research UK) as Non-Executive Director. Good news too regarding the Cambridge Cancer Research Hospital, as the planning permission has finally been submitted to the Cambridge City Council. Moreover, life science-related real estate investment across the Knowledge Arc of Oxford and Cambridge reached £1.65 billion in 2022. OxSonics Therapeutics has announced positive first-in-human clinical data for its proprietary ultrasound-based drug delivery platform. Guest stars on Beyond Biotech: how some coffee farms are reducing the use of synthetic nitrogen but also Mr White (sigh), High Fidelity and… coconut. Let’s dive in!

Oxford-based Grey Wolf Therapeutics has raised $49 million Series B. The investment was co-led by Pfizer Venturesand Earlybird Venture Capital and participated by Canaan, Andera Partners, Oxford Science Enterprises and British Patient Capital. Two of the biggest challenges for the current immuno-oncology approaches are poor tumour recognition by T cells and T cell exhaustion. Grey Wolf is working to overcome key resistance mechanisms, as research has shown eliciting completely novel immune responses can help overcoming these issues. The company has developed a pipeline of novel endoplasmic reticulum aminopeptidases (ERAP1 or ERAP2) inhibition programs. ERAP inhibition drives generation and presentation of novel cancer antigens to the surface of tumour cells, thus eliciting a de novo T cell response against tumours. The proceedings of the round will be used to enter the clinic with ERAP, the company’s new immunotherapy target. Its lead program (GRWD5769) is expected to reach Phase 1/2 during H1 2023, including a combination arm trial with the PD-1 inhibitor Libtayo. In addition, part of the funding will be used to research ERAP2 inhibition and identify of novel cancer antigens targetable with MHC Class I therapies (e.g. soluble T cell receptor (TCR) and TCR-mimic bispecifics). The company was co-founded by Peter Joyce, PhD (CEO, ex-Vertex Pharmaceuticals) and Tom McCarthy, PhD (Executive Chairman; he is also Executive Chairman of Orbit Discovery, co-Founder and CEO of Pathios Therapeutics. In addition, Grey Wolf has appointed Sally Dewhurst (Oxford Science Enterprises), Emma Johnson (British Patient Capital), Rabab Nasrallah (Earlybird Venture Capital), and Marie-Claire Peakman(Pfizer Ventures) to the Board of Directors.

London-based Multus Biotechnology has raised $9.5m Series A. The investment was led by Mandi Ventures, alongside SOSV, Big Idea Ventures, SynBioVen and Asahi Kasei Corp. The Series A includes an equity free $2.5 million from Innovate UK through Europe’s most competitive startup grant, the EIC Accelerator. Multus is developing key ingredients for the affordable scale-up of cellular agriculture. The company discloses leveraging a proprietary library of non-conventional growth media ingredients (sic) to develop affordable growth media formulations. The proceedings of the round will be used to build a production plant aiming to lower the price of cultivated meat at commercial scale.

Cambridge-based NeoPhore has raised £6 million Series B extension. The round has been participated by CRT Pioneer Fund, Claris Ventures, 2Invest, 3B Future Health Fund and Astellas Venture Management. The extension brings Series B funding to a total of £21.5 million. NeoPhore is developing first-in-class small molecules targeting the DNA mismatch repair (MMR) pathway to treat oncology indications. It has been shown that inhibiting the MMR pathway promotes neoantigen creation and thus eliciting immunity. The proceedings of the extended Series B will be used to advance NeoPhore’s pipeline with the aim to start of IND-enabling studies in 2024. The company was span out of the University of Turin and PhoreMost Ltd by the CRT Pioneer Fund.

Cambridge-based Creasallis has raised funding from BlueYard Capital (financial details not disclosed). Creasallis is developing CreaTap, its proprietary antibody engineering platform aiming to improve antibody penetration into the tumour microenvironment while maintaining the necessary half life. The company was founded in by Zahra Jawad, PhD(Chief Executive Officer) in 2021. Creasallis was selected as part of cohort 4 on the accelerate@Babraham accelerator. Dr Jawad was Head of Research at bit.bio; prior to that she was Director, Head of Discovery Technologies and Group Leader at Agenus.

Cardiff-based IQ Endoscope has raised £5.2 million funding. The investment was led by BGF, alongside the Development Bank of Wales and a consortium of investors. The proceedings of the round will be used to advance and roll out the company’s lead medical device. It is a sustainable, cost-effective, single-use endoscopy device. 70 million endoscopy procedures are completed each year. Of these, 98% are performed with reusable devices, requiring decontamination and reprocessing after each use. IQ Endoscope was launched in 2017 and to date it has raised £5.9 million, seed funding and grants raised from investors including the Development Bank of Wales, Cardiff and Vale Health Board and the Cardiff Capital Region Challenge Fund.

London-based Entocycle has raised €5 million Series A. The round was led by Climentum Capital, and participated by Lowercarbon Capital, Teampact Ventures, ACE & Company, and athletes such as Antoine Dupont, Nikola Karabatic, James Haskell and Antoine Brizard. Entocycle (ex-Y Combinator) supplies high-quality insect farming technology and other digital solutions. The company’s software and hardware solution, Entosight Neo, leverages an optical sensor to monitor and collect data on the health and productivity of a black soldier fly colony.

Bristol-based EnsiliTech has raised £1.2 million pre-seed funding to advance refrigerated-free approach to transporting vaccines. The round was led by Science Angel Syndicate. EnsilTech was span out from the University of Bath with the backing from  Science Angel Syndicate and the Fink Family Office, with co-investment from QantX, Elbow Beach Capital, several angel investors and Innovate UK funding. The company’s proprietary technology – ensilication can be applied to both current and future biopharmaceuticals. It applies tiny layers of an inorganic material to the vaccine or other biological material to render it stable outside the fridge or freezer.

Cambridge-based Eagle Genomics has secured funding from Japan-based OMRON Ventures (financial details not disclosed). OMRON joins other investors such as abrdn, Environmental Technologies Fund and consortium led by Granpool Innovative Investments in supporting Eagle and its e[datascientist]2 platform. The e[datascientist]™ uses multilayer hypergraphs to structure and interrogate data. The proceedings of the investment will be used to scale up focusing on harness the microbiome to solve for ‘One Health’ challenges.

The Nucleic Acid Therapy Accelerator (NATA) has awarded £8 million to a consortium led by Professor Matthew Wood at the University of Oxford. The aim of the collaboration is to develop in vitro and in vivo methods for delivering oligonucleotide therapies to the CNS, heart and muscle cells. NATA is a UK Research & Innovation (UKRI)/Medical Research Council Unit funded by the Strategic Priorities Fund.

Cheshire-based Medicines Discovery Catapult and SMi have secured a Biomedical Catalyst Grant to validate its approach to detecting cancer biomarkers. MDC will use SMi’s super-resolution optical platform to test a new approach that uses liquid biopsies at single molecule resolution. The project will also benefit from screening paired samples using SMi’s optical platform and ‘gold-standard’ droplet digital PCR (ddPCR) testing.

Bristol-based Extracellular has secured funding from Innovate UK through the Smart Grant Competition. The company leverages its expertise in biomanufacturing to produce biomass for cultivated meat companies in a cost-effective and sustainable manner.

University College London has been awarded £1 million grant by the Motor Neurone Disease Association, LifeArcand My Name'5 Doddie Foundation to progress two cutting-edge therapies for motor neurone disease (MND). The project led by Prof Pietro Fratta (UCL Queen Square Institute of Neurology) and Dr Loic Roux (Nucleic Acid Therapy Accelerator) will aim to develop a gene therapy to slow down, stop or reverse amyotrophic lateral sclerosis. The project led by Prof Linda Greensmith and Dr Barney Bryson (UCL Queen Square Institute of Neurology) will focus on restoring lost muscle function and prevent further muscle damage.

The Small Business Research Initiative Healthcare has awarded £3.3 million to accelerate innovation in Cardiovascular Disease (CVD), £2.7 million to Respiratory Disease therapies, and £5 million to innovations supporting Stroke patients. The funding has been made available thanks to a partnership between Accelerated Access Collaborative initiative and the Academic Health Science Networks. The awarded projects for the CVD are: Abtrace (£488,640), PocDoc£489,521, Healum (£390,795), **Discover** Momenta (£491,213), Huma (£493,877), Cardisio (£342,484), **Inavya** Ventures (£180,564 ) and Southwest London Integrated Care System (£439,069). The projects in the Respiratory Diseases vertical (including interstitial lung disease, cystic fibrosis, Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease and lung transplantation) are: my mhealth Limited (£499,780), Lenus Health Ltd (£467,260), Adherium Europe Ltd(£499,87), Tiny Medical Apps (£488,525), patientMpower (£279,732), Aseptika Ltd (£499,342). The projects to support stroke patients will tackle pre-hospital diagnosis, rehabilitation, and life after stroke: Pockit Diagnostics Ltd(£798,919), Cognitant Group Ltd (£423,981), NeuroVirt Limited (£754,388) Imperial College London (£800,000), Sonalis Imaging Limited (£798,968), Odstock Medical Limited (£800,000) and Evolv (£791,815).

London-headquartered Renalytix (LSE, NASDAQ: RENX) has been awarded $10 million a Horizon Europe Grant to advance personalised medicine in treating CKD throughout EU and US. The funding will be asigned to PRIME-CKD, a consortium of industry, academic and clinical researchers aiming to validate and implement novel biomarker-based tests in clinical practice to predict response to existing drugs used by chronic kidney disease (CKD) patients. 10% of the budget will be used by Renalytix to enable commercial translation. The PRIME-CKD program builds on the research carried out by the  Innovative Medicine Initiative 2 program BEAt-DKD (2016).

Royston-based TTP has launched Cellular Origins aiming to double down on scalable manufacture of cell and gene therapies. Cellular Origins will aim to enable scalable, cost-effective and efficient manufacture of cell and gene therapies. Its proprietary technology allows to tackle the late-stage development, enabling commercial manufacturing without process change. The system leverages automated sterile fluidic interconnection that has the flexibility to adapt and link current and future bioprocess equipment, thus enabling full automation of current and future technology.

Edinburgh-based Blackford is going to be acquired by Bayer (financial details not disclosed). The acquisition will follow Bayer’s well-established ‘arm’s length’ operational model. Blackford will remain independent but will be accountable to advance Bayer infrastructure. The collaboration between Bayer and Blackford has laid the foundation for launching Calantic, Bayer’s medical imaging AI platform. Blackford was span out of the University of Edinburgh in 2010 and operations will remain in Edinburgh post-acquisition. The company has been backed by the angel syndicate Archangels, Old College Capital, Scottish Enterprise, Thairm Bio, and Tricapital.

The UK Government [has established](https://www.gov.uk/government/news/research-agency-supporting-high-risk-high-reward-research-formally-established?) the Advanced Research and Invention Agency (ARIA). ARIA is a new independent research body to fund high-risk scientific research. The agency is led by Dr Ilan Gur (Chief Executive Officer) and Matt Clifford MBE (Chair of the Board). In addition, five Board members have been appointed as Non-Executive Directors and will join the government Chief Scientific Advisor, Sir Patrick Vallance: Stephen Cohen(experience assets manager and Commissioner for the Gambling Commission), Prof Sir David MacMillan (Nobel Prize in Chemistry and James S. McDonnell Distinguished University Professor of Chemistry at Princeton University), Sarah Hunter (Global Director of Public Policy at X, the Moonshot Factory), and Dame Kate Bingham, DBE (Managing Partner at SV Health Investors and former Chair of the UK Vaccine Taskforce). Antonia Jenkinson(former CFO at UK Atomic Energy Authority) has been appointed as Executive Director and will take the role of Chief Financial and Operations Officer.

All well and good. However, some of the newly appointed members to the ARIA’s Board of Directors have expressed concerns over the role life science is playing in the UK. Dame Kate Bingham, DBE has written a piece in the Financial Times titled Britain is losing its chance to become a life sciences superpower: “The UK has everything it needs to be a 21st century life sciences superpower. But short-term pressures are crowding out long-term solutions, squandering this important opportunity”.

More on quasi-squandering. The Government deprioritised (sic) the Oxford-Cambridge Arc in order to —allegedly— prioritise levelling up spending in the North of England. Now, thanks to a lucky U-turn, the Arc project has been reprioritised via a new British regional partnership. This article in the Financial Times is absolute gold and a perfect example of the short-term pressures are crowding out long-term solutions. It gives a very good overview of all the policy changes around the Arc and its impact. If you are going to read one article about this, make it this one.

Prof Sir Richard Friend FREng FRS has written a piece in The Engineer about one of the most worrying issues for the UK biotech ecosystem. UK does great (so far) in early stage Research and Development (R&D) but not so well in later stages. In fact, there are signs of UK businesses bringing these R&D activities overseas, in particular to Germany and France. Grant Shapps has recently outlined his vision at the World Economic Forum to launch a “Scale-up Summit”.

British Partient Capital and Mubadala Investment Company have invested in SV Biotech Crossover Opportunities Fund (SV BCOF). The co-investment is being made through the UK’s Life Sciences Investment Programme, which was launched in 2021 to support UK-based life sciences businesses. So far SV BCOF has invested in Bicycle Therapeutics (precision-guided therapeutics to target intractable cancers), Quell Therapeutics (engineered T-regulatory cell therapies), Pulmocide (therapies for common but hard-to-treat respiratory infections), EyeBio (therapies for eye diseases ) and Nimbus Therapeutics (small molecule, structure-based drug discovery against well-validated but difficult-to-drug targets). SV BCOF is managed by SV Health Investors and focuses on the UK. British Patient Capital is a cornerstone investor and has committed $48.6 million.

KPMG UK and Acceleris’s venture capital fundraising and advisory business has been granted approval by the Financial Conduct Authority, thus completing the formation of the new entity. In 2021, the two firms signed an agreement to establish KPMG Acceleris, a firm that focuses on early stage fundraising of businesses in technology, life sciences and ESG-related sectors. The firm can assist with investments from investments of £1 to £30 million.

The British Business Bank has announced a £130 million Wales fund will launch in autumn and a £200 million South West fund will start during the first half of 2023. It will offer a range of commercial finance options (loans from £25,000 to £2 million; equity investment up to £5 million).

The Royal Academy of Engineering’s Enterprise Hub is receiving applications for its Regional Talent Enginesprogramme. The program focuses on entrepreneurs based in Northern England and Northern Ireland. Successful applicants will be awarded with £20,000 funding (equity-free) and six months of commercial and engineering support. All details about the Enterprise Hub can be found here. Deadline: March 6, 2023.

Innovate UK has launched a £20 million funding competition for digital tools designed to improve diagnosis and treatment stratification. It is a two-round competition. Round 1 focuses on musculoskeletal and cardiovascular disease, and other chronic conditions excluding oncology, whereas round 2 (May 2023) does include oncology. Deadline for round 1 is March 8, 2023.

Steven Bartlett has launched Flight Story Fund, a $100 million fund to back European startups (yes, that includes the UK, Mr Frost). The fund will invest from $1 million to $10 million in space, commerce, biotech, technology, blockchain and health startups.

Cambridge-based Storm Therapeutics has presented new preclinical data on STC-15 supporting treatment of patients with acute myeloid leukaemia (AML). The results demonstrate STC-15 (orally-bioavailable METTL3 inhibitor), exhibits efficacy as monotherapy and in combination with venetoclax (FDA approved for AML treatment). The research was carried out using patient-derived tumour models. The STC-15 Phase 1 trial (NCT05584111) commenced in November 2022. It aims to identify doses and regimen for potential clinical studies in AML and solid tumours. Storm Therapeutics is developing RNA modifying enzymes (RME) inhibitors for use in oncology and other diseases.

Cambridge-based CN Bio has expanded collaboration with the US Food and Drug Administration. The collaboration will aim to evaluate multi-organ microphysiological systems (MPS) and their applications using the PhysioMimix Multi-organ System with an initial focus on improving the preclinical estimation of human drug bioavailability compared to animal models. PhysioMimix Gut/Liver model recapitulates in vitro the structure and function of such tissues and their fluidic interaction, for comparing intravenous and oral compound dosing. In the last five years of partnership, CN Bio and the FDA have co-authored peer-review research utilising the PhysioMimix Liver model for metabolism and toxicity studies. It has become the first peer-review publication between a MPS provider and a regulator.

Cambridge-based bit.bio has partnered with London-based Automation to scale up its manufacturing capabilities. bit.bio’s cellular reprogramming technology (opti-ox) will leverage Automata’s expertise in lab automation at scale. The company estimates the first step in automation will quadruple its manufacturing output, reduce human error and improve batch-to-batch reproducibility.

London-based Kanna Health has announced the publication of patent application (WO/2023/004428). It claims the method of synthesis, and the novel synthetic compounds inspired on naturally occurring mesembrine alkaloids (from Sceletium tortuosum) ****and its use as research tools and pharmaceuticals. These alkaloids have shown inhibitory effects on serotonin re-uptake transporter (SERT) and phosphodiesterase 4 (PDE4) using in vitro assays. The company reports these novel compounds may be of therapeutic use in neurology, psychiatric, and inflammation-related diseases.

Edinburgh-based Blackford has partnered with Cambridge-based Brainomix to bring Brainomix’s e-Stroke solution to the Blackford’s strategic imaging AI platform. Brainomix is developing digital solution to broaden access to life-saving stroke treatments. Its AI-driven tools can generate real-time interpretation of non-contrast or contrast CT exams enabling physicians to expedite decisions. The addition of e-Stroke to Blackford’s portfolio will allows more institutions across the globe to access the tool.

Edinburgh-based Ingenza has entered a collaboration agreement with US-based Amplifica Holdings Group to develop a treatment for androgenic alopecia. The partnership will leverage Ingenza’s bio-manufacturing technologies to advance the development of Amplifica’s signalling molecules from proof of concept to clinical trials.

London-based PocDoc has been granted a National Health Service contract to broaden access to cholesterol testing outside traditional GP surgery. The contract has been assigned by the Accelerated Access Collaborative (AAC), a partnership between patient groups, government bodies, industry and the NHS hosted by NHS England. PocDoc’s app allows diagnosis based in 5 marker lipid test that is then sent to clinicians via a secured API. According to the UK Health of Security Agency, cardiovascular diseases account for £7.4 billion in England, with an annual cost to the wider economy of £15.8 billion.

Oxford-based OxSonics Therapeutics has announced first-in-human clinical data for its proprietary ultrasound-based drug delivery platform (SonoTran). Data shows SonoTran is safe and well-tolerated. The company has developed nanoparticles that are administered alongside the cancer drug. Then, these particles are activated by SonoTran, a novel ultrasound device, at the tumour site. The ultrasounds help creating a pumping effect aiming to improve delivery and penetration. The recruitment for phase 1/2a proof of concept study has already started.

London-based Hataali has launched Hataali 2.0, a single interoperable platform for the advance therapy ecosystem. Hataali 2.0 is a digital ecosystem that provides a plug and play approach for any stakeholder and data inputs. It uses multiple Chain of Identify (COI) identifiers, aiming to tackle one of the key problems in the field, i.e. healthcare providers, manufacturers and pharma companies operating different systems with little interoperability.

London-based Amber Therapeutics has announced successful first-in-human Amber-UI implants. Amber-UI is the company's proprietary therapy for urge and mixed urinary incontinence. This constitute the first fully implantable closed-loop bioelectrical therapy in clinical development for UI. It access and target the pudendal nerve through minimal surgery and can sense and respond to individual patient signals to restore normal bladder function. The company is developing bioelectrical therapies for patients with functional disorders of the peripheral nervous system. It was span out of the University of Oxford in 2021 by Prof Tim Denison, PhD and Aidan Crawler (CEO).

Birmingham-based Nonacus has launched Cell3 Target, novel panels for detecting minimal residual disease (MRD). Cell3 Target allows sequencing multiple tumour-specific mutations to high depth of coverage. It offers the required sensitivity for liquid biopsy and allows for raw read depths in excess of 20,000x, the standard requirement for MRD detection. The solution allows to design, verify and manufacture smaller, targeted detection panels (50-100 probes and 101-500 probes).

Oxford-based Oxular’s lead candidate OXU-001 for the treatment of diabetic macular edema (DME) has been grantedInvestigational New Drug Application (IND) status by the US Food and Drug Administration. Oxular is developing long-lasting, suprachoroidally-delivered retinal treatments. OXU-001 is dexamethasone prepared as Oxuspheres, a novel biodegradable drug formulation. It is delivered to the posterior suprachoroidal space of the eye via Oxulumis, the company’s proprietary illuminated microcatheter.

The UK BioIndustry Association (BIA) has appointed five Board Directors. Robert Tansley (Partner of Cambridge Innovation Capital), Claire Thompson (CEO of Agility Life Sciences) and Anna Williamson (Executive Director of Roche Pharma Partnering) have been newly elected whereas Melanie Toyne-Sewell (Managing Partner at Instinctif Partners), Avi Spier (Executive Director at Novartis Institute for Biomedical Research) have been reappointed. BIA members have elected the appointees for a for a three-year term to strengthen industry expertise and capabilities. In addition, BIA has appointed Dr Steve Gardner (CEO and co-founder of PrecisionLife) as Chair and Dr Danuta Jeziorska (CEO and Co-founder of Nucleome Therapeutics) as Vice Chair of the Genomics Advisory Committee. The Committee aims to influence key strategic programmes to strengthen the UK’s position as world-leading player in Genomics.

The Cambridge Cancer Research Hospital (CCRH) planning permission has been submitted to the Cambridge City Council. CCRH will be based on the Cambridge Biomedical Campus and is part of the government’s £3.7 billion (initial funding) New Hospital Programme, whose commitment is to build 48 new hospitals by 2030. Construction is expected to start in 2024.

London-based Downing LLP has appointed John E Milad as Partner and Co-Head of its Healthcare Ventures team. Milad joins from Quanta Dialysis Technologies where he served as Chief Executive Officer where he helped raising $400 million funding and establishing operations in the UK and the US. Prior to Quanta, he was the Investment Director at NBGI Ventures. He has held other senior positions at investment firms such as Atlas Venture, Kirkland Investors, Nomura, and Lehman Brothers. Milad will work closely with the Co-Head of the Healthcare Division Dr Nigel Pitchford. The fund has also announced plans to launch a new institutional fund but no further details have been disclosed.

Royston-based Lex Diagnostics has appointed Ed Farrell as Chief Executive Officer. He joins from being Chief Operations Officer (COO) at Klay Biotech. Prior to that, he served as President/COO of Quotient, where he contributed to the company’s IPO on NASDAQ, and has held senior leadership positions at Siemens Healthcare Diagnostics. Farrell will take over from Dr Andrew Baker-Campbell, who will remain as Chair of the Board. LEX is developing a 5-minute multiplex PCR.

Cambridge-based Optibrium has appointed Steve Yemm as Chief Commercial Officer (CCO). Yemm joins from Paradigm4 where he was Vice President of Sales for Life Sciences and Healthcare. Prior to that, he was CCO at Aigenpulse and Chief Executive Officer at BioData. He brings in an extensive sales and marketing experience as well as know how in expanding global operations. Optibrium is developing of software and other AI-driven solutions for drug discovery.

Cambridge-based Cyted has appointed Christopher Humberston as Vice President of Finance. Mr Humberston joined the company in 2021 as Financial Controller to then be appointed as Head of Finance. Prior to joining Cyted, he worked at Grand Thornton UK LLP where he held various roles of increasing responsibility focusing on Corporate Finance management. In addition, Humberston served at Deloitte UK where he partned with clients such ARM Holdings plc, the world’s leading semiconductor IP company, Xaar plc and BUUK Infrastructure.

Birmingham-based PBD Biotech has appointed Dr Marie Roskrow as Chair of the Board. Dr Roskrow has held leadership positions such CEO, CMO and Chair of the Board in private and listed companies, including Patrys Ltd(Australia), Imevax (Germany), MetaLinear (UK), and Kinomica (UK). She is currently Chair of Arcticzymes Technologies (Norway). She will take over from Tom Green, who will become Non-Executive Director. The change in the Chair post means a reprioritisation of the company focus, which will now move from mycobacterial diseases in animal health to human health.

Cambridge-based 52 North Health has appointed Prof Sir Leszek Borysiewicz as Non-Executive Director. Prof Borysiewicz is the Chair of Cancer Research UK and was the Vice Chancellor at the University of Cambridge. He is a founding fellow of the Academy of Medical Sciences and a Governor of the Wellcome Trust. 52 North Health has developed Neutrocheck, a medical device and app to help addressing the risk of neutropenic sepsis, the most fatal side-effect of chemotherapy treatment.

Cheshire-headquartered BiVictriX Therapeutics (AIM:BVX, OTC:BVTXF) has appointed Dr Michael Kauffman as Non-executive Chairman. Dr Kauffman was co-founder and CEO of oncology company Karyopharm Therapeutics Incand let the company efforts to global approvals of cancer drug XPOVIO. He will take over Iain Ross, who will remain as Non-executive Director. BiVictriX is developing a pipeline of Bi-Cygni therapeutics which are designed to selectively target cancer-specific antigen pairs on tumour cells.

London-headquartered IP Group (LSE: IPO) has appointed Anita Kidgell as independent Non-executive Director. Ms Kidgell is currently Head of Corporate Strategy at GSK where she has spent the bulk of her career holding a number of roles from clinical research to investor relations. IP Group develops businesses across life sciences, technology and cleantech and it owns Parkwalk, the UK's largest growth EIS fund manager.

Savills UK reports investment for life science-related real estate across the Knowledge Arc of Oxford and Cambridgehave reached £1.65 billion in 2022. 2022 is a record year and represents an increase of £50 million compared to the 2021 figures. The surge in activity proves the urgent need for laboratory and office space in the region. In Cambridge, 194-198 Cambridge Science Park was sold to Cadillac Fairview and Stanhope for £85 million and Pace Development’s 301,000 sq ft Botanic Place was sold to Railpen. In Oxford, Life Science REIT acquired Oxford Technology Park for £180 million, and Brydell Partners acquired Northbrook House (Oxford Science Park) for £20.4 million.

Oxford-based The Oxford Science Park (TOSP) has acquired the 31,581 sq ft Hinshelwood Building. The acquisition is part of the program to build six new R&D buildings, totalling over 600,000 sq ft, which will be constructed over the next three years.

Cambridge-based Isomerase Therapeutics has signed a lease for a new 3,495 sq ft facility at Solopark, Cambridge, UK. The company is expanding operations building on the existing biomanufacturing capabilities at the Chesterford Research Park.

150,000 sq ft will become available from 2024 at the ARC West London site (Refinery).

European patent attorney firm Hoffmann Eitle has appointed David Miller as Partner in its London team. The appointment strengthen the biotech and life sciences expertise. Miller joins from Mathys & Squire. He brings biotechnology, pharmaceuticals and diagnostics knowledge, including patent prosecution, and has worked with clients such Moderna and other players in the vaccine technology space.

Nottingham-based Upperton Pharma Solutions has begun construction work for its new 50,000 sq ft development and GMP manufacturing. It will be located at the Trent Gateway Business Park in Beeston (less than two miles from Upperton’s current headquarters). The new facility is expected to be fully operational by the end of 2023 and is expected to create 150 additional full-time jobs by the end of 2024. Upperton is a contract development and manufacturing organisation for the life science industry.

Edinburgh-headquartered TC BioPharm (NASDAQ: TCBP; TCBPW) has initiated a strategic collaboration with The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center to further investigate the role of gamma-delta T cells in oncology pathways. MD Anderson will provide with clinical trial infrastructure and the translational research expertise of its immunotherapy platform. The partnership will form a six-person steering committee to drive the research. TC Biopharm is developing gamma-delta T cell therapies, currently focusing on acute myeloid leukemia, including CARs with gamma-delta T cells, as well as a portfolio of candidates for solid tumours.

Avacta Group (AIM: AVCT) has announced the successful completion of AVA6000 Phase 1 clinical trial (ALS-6000-101). The results shown a favourable safety profile. In addition, doxorubicin is being released within the tumour tissue confirming the tumour targeting potential of Avacta’s pre|CISIONTM technology. 19 patients with a range of advanced and/or metastatic solid tumours enrolled across four cohorts. AVA6000 targets the release of doxorubicin to the tumour tissue at higher levels than those observed in the bloodstream at the same time point, thus potentially reducing associated side effects from chemotherapy.

C4X Discovery Holdings (AIM: C4XD) has reported positive preclinical data for its MALT-1 inhibitor program. MALT-1 is one of the key regulators of B-cell receptor (BCR) and T-cell receptor (TCR) signalling. Over-expression and/or over-activation has been observed in a range of lymphomas (e.g. chronic lymphocytic leukemia, MALT lymphoma, diffuse large B-cell lymphoma). Results from the preclinical xenograft study has allowed to progress the MALT-1 program into candidate selection phase.

Evgen Pharma (AIM: EVG) has completed the dosing for its Phase I/Ib SFX-01 clinical trial. SFX-01 is the company’s lead assets, an enteric-coated tablet formulation of synthetic sulforaphane and alpha-cyclodextrin. It has undergone clinical trials for oestrogen-positive (ER+) metastatic breast cancer. Full data for the placebo-controlled, dose-escalating, randomised trial is expected for 2023 Q2. Sulforadex, the company’s core technology, is a method for synthesising and stabilising sulforaphane and other analogues.

Centessa Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ: CNTA) has announced FDA clearance of Investigational New Drug (IND) application for Phase 1/2a clinical trial of LB101. LB101 is a conditionally tetravalent PD-L1xCD47 bispecific monoclonal antibody designed for solid tumours. LB101 has two anti-CD47 domains blocked by two anti-PD-L1 domains. The cell-killing mechanism of action, CD47 is designed to be blocked by the PD-L1 tumour targeting domain. The mechanism effects until the hinges are naturally degraded which unlocks and activates the CD47 effector function, that is, the anti-tumour mechanism.

V7 Labs has shared details on how they raised its $33 million Series A. Great in-depth article for those perhaps not so familiar with the structure of a venture deal and the different steps to reaching an agreement.

US-based Profluent Bio has emerged from stealth and raised $9 million seed round. The company is backed by Insight Partners, Air Street Capital, AIX Ventures, and Phoenix Venture Partners. The company is developing large language models for the biology vertical, a sort of ChatGPT for protein design.

Metacarpal CEO was interviewed at BBC Breakfast to discuss the company’s latest funding news (Innovate UK grant).

Salt Lake City-based Recursion has released MolRec, a compound intelligence tool for drug discovery, as well as RxRx3, the largest of its kind open-source dataset.

Sequoia Capital is going to reduce fees for new funds!