A potential new therapy for COVID-19 infection appears to have moved closer after specific tests on Cambridge-based Avacata’s Affimer biotherapeutics and reagents.

Collaborative work with the Centre for Virus Research at Glasgow University has shown that Affimer reagents which bind to the SARS-COV-2 virus spike protein prevent infection of human cells by a SARS-COV-2 model virus.

Avacta recently reported that several of the Affimer reagents that had been generated to develop COVID-19 antigen tests inhibited the interaction between the coronavirus’ spike protein and a receptor found on human cells, called ACE2, which the virus spike protein binds to as the first step in infecting cells.

Avacta has now successfully completed the initial phase of a collaboration with Professor David Bhella at the University of Glasgow showing that these neutralising Affimer reagents prevent a SARS-COV-2 model virus from entering human cells.

Affimer reagents have key benefits compared with antibodies as virus neutralising therapies. Their small size and high solubility means that a much higher concentration of Affimer molecules can be used in the drug formulation to more effectively block the spike proteins on each virus particle and better protect the patient.

Bispecific and trispecific Affimer neutralising therapies that bind to more than one part of the spike protein could ensure the effectiveness of the neutralising therapy even if the virus’ spike protein mutates.

Work is continuing with Professor Bhella to further study the way in which the Affimer reagents prevent infection and Avacta is using this growing body of data actively to secure a large pharmaceutical partner to develop these potential therapeutic candidates rapidly.

Dr Alastair Smith, CEO of Avacta Group, said: “I am delighted that our collaborators at the University of Glasgow have confirmed that these Affimer reagents not only block the spike-ACE2 binding but efficiently prevent a SARS-COV-2 model virus from entering human cells.

“This is critical information that will help to establish a license deal with a large pharmaceutical partner that has the resources to carry out an accelerated clinical development programme.

“Neutralising therapies could be given to those exposed to the virus, such as health and social-care workers, to prevent infection, as well as to patients already infected by the virus, to help treat and prevent disease progression. 

“There is ongoing significant investment by large pharmaceutical companies such as AstraZeneca, GSK, Boehringer Ingelheim and others to develop neutralising therapies for COVID-19.

“We continue to make very good progress across all of our COVID-19 related programmes, as well as our other diagnostic and therapeutic activities, and I look forward to providing further updates in the very near future.”

Professor Bhella added: “There is significant interest around the world in neutralising therapies for COVID-19 given the uncertainties around the timeline for developing an effective vaccine and deploying it. 

“The infectivity assays that we have carried out with the Affimer reagents have gone very well and they show that there are a number of them that are potent inhibitors of a SARS-COV-2 model virus entry into human cells. 

“Given the excellent performance of these novel reagents in the assays, and the other benefits of Affimer reagents, there should be considerable interest from potential partners in developing them as a therapy for COVID-19.”

A trio of bleeding-edge Cambridge companies are being funded by the Government to help propel the UK to global leadership in quantum computing.

Nu Quantum, Riverlane and Arm are key players in potentially game-changing moves.

Cambridge University spin-out Nu Quantum has been awarded four projects for the Industrial Strategy Challenge Fund for a total of £3.6 million alongside industrial heavyweight partners such as BT, NPL and Airbus. The company – based at the world-famous Cavendish Laboratory –  says it is “ecstatic” at the news.

Founded only in 2018, Nu Quantum has created a portfolio of patented and ground-breaking single-photon components fundamental to the realisation of commercially-viable photonic quantum technologies. 

Nu Quantum has some impressive investors and business builders as partners, including Hermann Hauser’s Amadeus Capital Partners, Martlet – the angel investment vehicle of Marshall of Cambridge –  Innovate UK and the university’s commercialisation arm, Cambridge Enterprise among others. 

In a new £70 million funding boom, Arm and Riverlane have won cash and backing from UK Research and Innovation as part of its Quantum Technologies Challenge.

Developing one of the world’s first quantum computer operating systems, Riverlane – one of the UK’s first quantum software companies – will partner with world-leading chip architect Arm along with the UK’s leading computing hardware startups to develop an innovative operating system.

This will be used across all major quantum computing hardware technologies – helping businesses to unlock commercial opportunities.

Science Minister Amanda Solloway said: “The UK is home to some of the world’s most advanced quantum technology companies tackling some of the most pressing challenges – from speeding up the diagnosis of cancerous tumours to detecting harmful gas leaks.

“I am delighted the Government is able to provide this thriving sector with the backing it deserves. The projects I have announced will help to maintain the UK’s status as a world leader in quantum technology.”

A newly commissioned report led by Cambridge University underlines the credentials of Babraham Research Campus (BRC) as a UK and world-class power base for life science business.

The total GVA impact of the campus on the UK economy is now said to be £285 million. A remarkable 47 per cent of total funds raised by life science companies based on Cambridge region business & science parks in the three years prior to 2019 were secured by ventures located at BRC.

Fundraising for companies based on campus is accelerated by an average of 5.1 months and the amount of funds raised to date have increased by 10 per cent, the report says.

The market value of BRC’s top 14 companies now tops £4 billion – an average 7.2 per cent x return for investors. Campus tenant companies have attracted a significant amount of commercial investment over the last decade, raising over £1.2 billion to date, of which more than £300 million was received in 2018.

The number of people employed on-site increased by over 90 per cent from around 900 employees in 2011/12 to 1,700 in 2017/18.

The report says that BRC-based companies are 20 per cent larger by headcount than they otherwise would be if the campus did not exist. More than two-thirds of companies surveyed regarded their location on campus as being important to their fundraising. 
Insights gained through the report will inform the future development of the campus, says CEO Derek Jones.

The research team was led by Cambridge Economic Associates and comprised the Cambridge University Centre for Business Research, Cambridge Econometrics, Savills and Professor Lisa Hall – Professor of Analytical Biotechnology, Department of Chemical Engineering and Biotechnology at the University of Cambridge.

Babraham Research Campus specialises in supporting the creation and development of life science ventures in the early stage of incubation with ambition to scale to an IPO.

Jones argues that the uncertain viability of these types of companies makes them far less attractive tenants to more commercially orientated science parks.

The report also notes that the standard commercial science park offering of shell and core buildings on long leases lacking a scientific and entrepreneurial community is often unattractive to startup ventures and their investors.

The Babraham Research Campus proposition of access to specialised startup and scale-up space; shared environments and world-class science-led facilities within a stable and supported community has enabled these organisations to flourish. This, in turn, has led to faster growth in the life science sector in Cambridge according to the report.

The importance of the location is not lost on the companies which choose to locate at BRC. More than 75 per cent of the companies based on campus, who were surveyed as part of the research project, considered their location  as either a ‘very important’ or ‘critically important’ factor in helping them access laboratory and office space on flexible and affordable terms.

The ownership of the majority of the campus companies surveyed has become more dispersed during the last five years. Campus companies have been able to attract funding from a wide range of international life science and technology backers including the IP Group, SV Health Investors, Morningside and Medixci Ventures and many global corporate fund venture investors such as Merck Ventures, SROne (GSK), Novartis Ventures and Pfizer Ventures.

These investors have supported campus tenants at different stages of their growth, from seed financing to Series B and C rounds and on to IPO.

Fundraising by the largest campus companies has been further facilitated by the University of Cambridge, primarily through its commercialisation arm Cambridge Enterprise in addition to Cambridge Innovation Capital – a preferred investor for the university.

Just over a third of BRC companies derive directly from research out of the University of Cambridge.

Since its inception in 2018, the inspirational Accelerate@Babraham initiative has supported 11 startup ventures through its bio-incubator programme of access to labs, equipment and mentoring activities. The venture now has strategic support from AstraZeneca, MundiPharma, Life Arc, Eisai and BBSRC-UKRI.

As the new report shows, the campus is considered to be making a strong contribution to the overall Cambridgeshire sub-region and UK Life Sciences – particularly in generating jobs, enhancing the sector skill base and increasing the global impact and value from UK science. 
Derek Jones said: “I am delighted to see that the findings from this report confirms our own internal data and anecdotal evidence of the impact of the campus.

“We have tried to ensure that the support we offer to life science companies, whether it be the provision of flexible lease structures; access to science capabilities; or the nurturing and engaging community, is impactful in terms of jobs, scientific progress and increased economic activity, both locally and for the UK as a whole. It appears in many respects that we have succeeded.”

Professor Wolf Reik, acting director of Babraham Institute added: “”We are excited to see publication of this informative report, which highlights key impacts created by collaborations across the Babraham Research Campus.

“The Babraham Research Campus is unique in bringing together the world-leading academic research of the Babraham Institute and the vibrant and growing ecosystem of the campus, with meaningful links existing at many different levels. These links are seen in collaborations, spin-out companies, joint funding, access to world class scientific facilities, training, and generally a better understanding of how fundamental science feeds into commercial developments with huge potential societal benefit.”

• Report data was collated in 2019 covering the period 2011-2018. To view the full report visit www.babraham.com. Then hit /media/2076/babraham-master-final-may-26th-2020.pdf

Cambridge MedTech business Feedback plc has conditionally raised £5.05 million through a placing and aims to realise a further £0.54m through an open offer to underpin international expansion for its Bleepa technology.

The proceeds will be used to develop the UK company’s flagship product – an app based on Feedback’s Cadran technology, which allows medical staff to securely view and discuss high quality medical grade images on mobile devices. 

Funds will be applied to:-

• Direct sales – engaging and converting NHS trusts to paying customers of Bleepa®
• Indirect sales to develop growth opportunities and ‘go to market’ strategies with key strategic partners
• Product development to extend and develop the functionality of Bleepa®, including for non-healthcare applications
• Territory expansion to explore opportunities for international expansion, via direct and indirect sales

The fundraising is subject to shareholder approval at a general meeting on July 1. Stanford Capital Partners acted as sole bookrunner in respect of the placing. Neither the placing nor the open offer has been underwritten.
Feedback CEO Tom Oakley said: “At this key moment for our company we are delighted to have generated the support of some of London’s leading institutional investors for our vision of Bleepa®. 

“Feedback is now a very different company to the one I joined just over a year ago; we now have a singular focus to deliver an exciting clinical product which leverages the best of our longstanding imaging heritage, repurposed to meet the future challenges of the clinical frontline.

“We have taken Bleepa® from concept to fully certified medical device in less than a year and gained traction with two NHS sites. This is a remarkable achievement, but it is only the beginning. 

“Having established Bleepa® we now have ambitious plans to scale Bleepa® and get it out to clinicians across the UK and internationally. This funding will enable us to take Bleepa® forward at the pace required and we are excited to get started.

“This funding marks a new start for Feedback as we pivot away from our heritage product lines towards Bleepa® and at this time the company wants to ensure that we reach out to our many loyal, longstanding shareholders, who have supported the business throughout our journey so far. 

“It is our desire to ensure that all shareholders have the opportunity to participate in this fundraise and buy in afresh to the company’s new vision. The board has sought to  recognise the extraordinary support and longstanding commitment of our shareholders through provision of an open offer.

“Although this is a large raise relative to our current market capitalisation, the board has worked closely with its broker, Stanford Capital, to minimise dilution for shareholders. 

“A fundraise of this level is both essential to allow us to grow at the pace required but is also a validation and endorsement of the vision and opportunity before us. With the support of the City and our shareholders we look forward to taking the company forward into a new phase of opportunity.”

Launched in May 1990 in the teeth of a UK recession, Business Weekly now marks its 30th anniversary in the middle of the deadly COVID-19 pandemic with the Chancellor warning of an even more dire recession ahead.

Broker in that the 1990 recession spilled over into 1991 and 1992, the stock market crashed in 2002, the 2008 recession dragged over five quarters and the 2010s era saw four separate periods of quarter on quarter fall in growth and one might expect a postbag bulging with letters of admiration from masochists. 

Just as we aren’t about to bake a cake, let alone apply icing or cover it with candles, so no-one at Business Weekly is lamenting the tough conditions that book-end our history to date.

The vision today is exactly as it was on foundation: to promote credible  businesses; to link them with potential customers, investors and collaborators locally, nationally and globally; to inspire and encourage generations of entrepreneurs; to build a bridge between academia & research and wider industry; to raise this region’s reputational capital on a world stage to encourage further growth of the cluster. 

What we have engendered, in conjunction with partners, is a joined up community boasting the largest ever cohort of serial entrepreneurs. We call them torchbearers. These men and women are committed not only to starting new enterprises of their own but also to mentoring and financially supporting new generations of entrepreneurial startups that spin out of academia or splinter from big businesses.

In the last couple of months, life science and technology innovators have led the UK’s fightback against COVID-19 in a number of ways, working with contemporaries and academia on vaccines, antibodies and even ventilators. When Business Weekly opened its doors there WAS no life science sector and precious little cutting edge technology.

In fact, before the establishment of Cambridge Science Park in 1960 – get out the candles for the 50th anniversary when the lockdown lifts – and St John’s Innovation Park in 1987 Cambridge was by many contemporaries’ admissions, a cabbage patch.

Now it is billionaire’s row boasting 18 unicorns (private companies with billion dollar valuations before IPO) who owe their birth to Cambridge IP.

Big industrial players and technology consultancies were the type of companies that thrived in the ‘old’ Cambridge. Electronics was another strong suit. Pye Ltd, which had been founded in 1896 and made scientific instruments and comms devices, was defunct by 1988.

Johnson Matthey, born in London in 1817 but by 1990 well established locally, and Marshall of Cambridge – which had started life in 1909 – were already global players by the time we hit the presses.

So, too, was Domino – an inkjet printing pioneer spun out of tech consultancy Cambridge Consultants in 1978 – which fought for cash and kudos as a private enterprise up against a battery of big-money US giants and became a world leader in its own right.

Cambridge Consultants itself was the founder of the Cambridge Phenomenon; launched in 1960, it had shrugged off a near fatal financial crisis which Robert Maxwell and Clive Sinclair tried to sort out – yes, it was THAT bad – and by 1990 had a stream of world-class clients beating a path to its door. 

Clive’s own consumer electronics company Sinclair Research had been influential from launch in 1961.

The Technology Partnership (TTP) was a relative newcomer having been founded in 1987 and is now Europe’s largest independent player in the market.

CADCentre, founded in 1967, formed the origins of industrial software innovator AVEVA which now has a market cap of £6.2 billion. Laser Scan had bedded in at the Science Park from 1967, founded by three academics from the university’s physics department and was still going strong by the time Business Weekly launched.

It could be argued that new tech came to the fore with Tony Purnell’s launch of Pi Research and then Pi Technology, developing futuristic vehicle telematics – for example for the cockpits of Formula One racing cars.
Pi Research won our inaugural business awards in 1990 and the group also won the 1994 competition. Purnell made millions when Ford came calling and told a recent Business Weekly Awards dinner that winning the competition had been influential.

While Napp Pharmaceuticals had been formed in 1923, there was no recognisable biotechnology sector in Cambridge when we launched. Sir Christopher Evans decided to change all that by fighting myopic City financiers to win cash for a sector he was sure would blossom. 

Since then, of course, life sciences has arguably become the ace in a Cambridge technology hand rammed with face cards.

In 1990 engaging with Cambridge University was not easy. It seems to have thought that Outreach must have been a town in the old Wild West. It would be six years before electrical engineer Alec Broers started a seven year reign of enlightenment as vice-chancellor (effectively chief executive) which saw him co-found Cambridge Network and open up dialogue between the university and business. Alison Richard picked up the torch in 2003 and others have since built on the foundations.

The Judge Institute for Management Studies launched in 1990 and has since blossomed into Cambridge Judge Business School with a globally renowned MBA and a whole host of imaginative entrepreneur and leadership programmes. 

Christoph Loch’s appointment as director in September 2011 was to prove an inspired move; he has transformed the School’s agenda and ensured it leverages its world-class reputation.

Early days

There is much talk in technology these days about disruption; a lot of it hype. But few would dispute that Business Weekly was disruptive in a number of ways from Day One. 

The offices were initially at St John’s Innovation Centre because the chairman, Walter Herriot, was managing director there. It wasn’t an uncommon sight to see people from other companies in the building wander into the office to contribute skills and material; here a would-be writer or sub-editor who had never worked in newspapers; there an outlier from elsewhere who had volunteered to moonlight and set advertisements.

Seeing the carpet was occasionally an even harder task as the late night takeaway meals and liquid sustenance arrived and the detritus was added to a welter of discarded paper strewn across the floor. But deadlines were always hit and there was huge appetite for the title across Cambridge and the wider region.

When I left Fleet Street to form a PR company, working with the likes of technology entrepreneur Steve Ives, Business Weekly’s executives identified that growth capital was urgently required, realising that would mean finding a more enlightened funding model.

Through an association the founders had made with highly respected financial expert John Lee – now CFO at transatlantic technology company DisplayLink – it was decided he would offer the soundest advice. 
More disruption: I recall his startled response when I called him. “But Tony; I’m on honeymoon.”

John graciously set up a call with Hermann Hauser who rang early one morning from the US to pledge cash and allegiance. We pulled all the regional titles covering Peterborough, Milton Keynes & Bedford, Norfolk and Suffolk into one Business Weekly East of England edition with Cambridge the focal point. All the companies in the surrounding hinterland by this time wanted to get at Cambridge anyway because the tech sector had started to bloom by the late ’90s.

Tony Blair had coined and presided over the birth of New Labour and a party stalwart called us to say that they felt Cambridge was now the unofficial capital of East Anglia rather than the finance-centric Norwich because New Labour believed the economic future for Britain would be driven by science & hi-tech. 

Business Weekly had moved into Hermann’s Active Book/EO Europe offices in Great Shelford. Excited by a clear upshift in footfall to the door and anticipating floods of new advertisers, staff were often greeted by farmers saying they had brought their pig urine samples or had bought a set of golf clubs that were not fit for purpose. 

They were all directed with courtesy and good humour to Trading Standards next door – and advertisers did arrive a-plenty through other routes.
We were helped enormously at that time by new chairman Bruce Matthews, a highly experienced Australian businessman who had guided Rupert Murdoch’s publishing empire through battles with the print unions that led to barbed wire at Wapping and a new-age industrial revolution.

Bruce took no pleasure in crushing the unions but, in common with many senior Murdoch executives, his pleas for a more enlightened approach to a new era at News International fell on stony ground.

It was Bruce who took us aside and said: “Don’t sell advertising per se; build partnerships and relationships. The advertising and sponsorship will follow if you are at the heart of major networks, executives regard you as an indispensable influencer and you consistently demonstrate that you are a force for positive change.” The advice has stood the test of time.

Cambridge-based global industrial heavyweight Johnson Matthey is axeing 2,500 jobs – a sixth of its workforce – to “maintain competitiveness” against a challenging global economic backdrop.

The grim news came as the business unveiled rising revenues but falling profits for the year to March 31. The full-year dividend has also been slashed in half as the company pursues further cost savings.

The company serves a broads range of markets from supplying catalysts for the automotive industry to a range of CleanTech, scientific and healthcare solutions based on its chemicals technology innovation.

Chief executive Robert MacLeod said COVID-19 had brought “unprecedented challenges to the world and Johnson Matthey.”

Announcing a 36 per cent revenue spike to just under £14.6 billion but a 38 per cent drop in pre-tax profits to £305 million, MacLeod said JM had tried to 
“balance the needs of all of our stakeholders but our first priority remains the health and safety of our people, customers, suppliers and communities where we operate.”

He said that despite a good year of progress on several fronts – including delivering operating performance slightly ahead of market expectations – COVID-19 hit underlying operating profit by around £60m.

While the company took “immediate and decisive action to protect our business, and to maintain good liquidity and a strong balance sheet,” future trading prospects had to be addressed.

MacLeod said: “Looking forward, we are accelerating our strategy to drive greater efficiency across the business, building upon the investments we have made in new manufacturing facilities and in our systems and processes.

“We have delivered nearly £120 million of our previously announced cost savings. However, we recognise the need to be even more efficient in order to maintain our competitiveness and in addition some of our end markets have been affected by COVID-19. Therefore, we are targeting additional annualised cost savings of at least £80 million by the end of 2022/23. We regret that this will lead to some job losses, which we estimate to be around 2,500 globally over the three-year period.

“Given the ongoing uncertainty, we are unable to provide financial guidance for 2020/21. In Clean Air, our customers are gradually ramping up their plants but visibility on the path of recovery remains low. Efficient Natural Resources is later cycle and we anticipate an impact as lower demand begins to affect the industries it serves. Health is relatively unaffected by the macroeconomic environment and should benefit from new customer contracts.

“In Battery Materials, the commercialisation of eLNO remains on track. Notwithstanding the strong financial position of the group, in light of the current uncertainty and to balance the needs of all stakeholders, the board is proposing a final dividend for the year of 31.125 pence, representing half the level of the 2018/19 final dividend. These developments do not change the global trends that will drive our longer term growth. Addressing climate change remains a priority and commitments to net zero are gathering pace across the world. Our continued investment in strategic growth projects and leading sustainable technologies uniquely positions us to address this and other key global trends, delivering significant value for our shareholders and society.”

Cambridge UK synthetic biology startup Bit Bio – formerly Elpis Biomed – has raised $41.5 million growth capital backed by iconic US life science investors.

It is a sensational result for the Cambridge University spin-out headed by Dr Mark Kotter and will accelerate the company’s goal to transition biology into engineering.

US big-hitters Rick Klausner, Bob Nelsen and Jim Tananbaum have teamed up with Bit Bio to uncover the “operating system of life” and accelerate the company’s drive towards industrial-scale manufacturing of all human cells.

Bit Bio, a Cambridge-based synthetic biology company spun out of the university in 2016 and combines data science and biology to code cells for the wellbeing of humanity. The Series A haul brings its total funding to $50 million. 

In a strong statement of support for the technology the investment was led by three of the world’s top life sciences investors and entrepreneurs. Richard Klausner is the former director of the National Cancer Institute and founder of Lyell Immunopharma, Juno and Grail. 

Jim Tananbaum is the founder and chief executive officer of Foresite Capital, a US-focused healthcare investment firm that has approximately $3 billion in assets under management.

Robert Nelsen is a co-founder and a managing director of ARCH Venture Partners. He joined ARCH at its founding and played a significant role in the early sourcing, financing and development of more than 100 companies, including 27 which have reached valuations exceeding $1 billion. German company Blueyard Capital also invested.

Bit Bio’s aim is to decode ‘cellular identity’ in order to generate every cell type of the human body. Its platform technology, opti-ox, enables precise reprogramming of stem cells and induces them to take on a new identity. They become specialised cells, such as those in the liver, brain or immune system. As a result, the company is already able to produce human cells at unmatched scale, speed and consistency.

Founder and CEO Dr Mark Kotter, who developed opti-ox in his lab at Cambridge University, said: “Our moonshot goal is to develop a platform capable of producing every human cell type. 

“This is possible once we understand the genes governing human cell behaviour, which ultimately form the ‘operating system of life’. This will unlock a new generation of cell and tissue therapies for tackling cancer, neurodegenerative disorders and autoimmune diseases and accelerate the development of effective drugs for a range of conditions. 

“The support of leading deep tech and biotech investors will catalyse this unique convergence of biology and engineering.”

Lead investor and Bit Bio adviser Rick Klausner said: “Bit Bio is based on beautiful science. The company’s technology has the potential to bring the long-awaited precision and reliability of engineering to the application of stem cells. 

“Bit Bio’s approach represents a paradigm shift in biology that will enable a new generation of cell therapies, improving the lives of millions.”

The investors are supporting the company so it can continue to develop its underlying scientific principles. The injection of funding will enable Bit Bio to grow the talent and operations it needs to realise its ambitions.

The development of new cancer-defeating cell therapies is currently obstructed by the scarcity of human cells. As a result, cell therapies remain expensive and difficult to scale. 

Furthermore, consistent access to functional human cells will unlock the potential of cell therapies and improve the efficiency of drug development. Moreover, at present less than 3% of new drugs make it to the clinical stage.
This is in part caused by differences between the animal models and cell lines used for drug development and human biology. The supply of human cells resulting from Bit Bio’s approach aims to tackle this problem. 

At the same time, the company’s technology will reduce the need for animal studies, alleviating unnecessary animal suffering.

Bit Bio has assembled a deep base of scientific support. Its team includes chief scientific adviser Dr Roger Pedersen, one of the pioneers of human stem cell biology, scientific adviser Dr Marius Wernig, a pioneer in cell reprogramming and co-director of the Stanford Stem Cell Institute, scientific adviser Dr John Connolly, a leading translational immunologist with years of experience in cell therapy, and scientific adviser Dr Ramy Ibrahim, a leader in clinical immuno-oncology.

Having recently returned from a year’s sabbatical to spearhead Mogrify’s mission to transform the development of lifesaving cell therapies I recently took time to reflect on my near-30 year involvement in the Cambridge Life Science scene since arriving in 1991 to read for a PhD in Biotechnology under one of the pioneers of UK life science and entrepreneurship, Professor Christopher R Lowe, writes Dr Darrin Disley, CEO of Mogrify.

It has struck me just how fast the life science sector is moving towards an R & D paradigm built on the integration of computer, natural and physical sciences and a commercial paradigm increasingly played out within a more open innovation framework across academia and industry.

Furthermore, the sector is developing within an entrepreneurial ecosystem capable of exploiting the current favourable R & D, tax, regulatory and investment framework and attractive to the efficient recycling of scientific, commercial and leadership talent.

Over the past 30 years Cambridge University has led the way via the invention of numerous enabling techniques such as DNA sequencing (Klennerman & Balasubramanian), X-ray crystallography (Aaron Klug), gene editing (Martin Evans), cell reprogramming (Gurdon), cell apoptosis (Sulston), GFP tagging (Tsien) and monoclonal antibody development (Winter) that have been pivotal in both advancing global academic investigation and (via the effective transfer of innovations into industry) driving of economic productivity. 

Shining lights in the Cambridge/UK life science scene such as Abcam, Astex, Bicycle Therapeutics, CAT, KuDOS, Kymab, Horizon Discovery, Healx, Mogrify, Owlstone Medical and Solexa have commercialised many of these innovations, going on to shine on the national and international stage and contributing greatly to what is now known as the Cambridge Phenomenon.

There is no doubt we live in a golden age of biology and this places the sector at the centre of addressing the need for scalable and sustainable solutions to the biggest challenges facing human kind over the next 50 years – namely how we feed, fuel and heal a population that is critically ageing in developed nations but most rapidly ageing in developing countries.

The biggest of these issues is undoubtedly healthcare – its composition, delivery and affordability. The issue is magnified with each advance we make in the feed and fuel aspects of the paradigm and with improved sustainability of the human condition. 

It is well known that the economics of producing medicines designed to treat critical and chronic diseases of ageing has been unsustainable due to high development costs and low efficacy. 

Fortunately, a convergence of technology–hardware, wetware and software–is allowing both the elucidation of the fundamental genetic, epigenetic and regulatory basis of disease and the implementation of a more personalised approach to medicine.

This approach combines early diagnosis, targeted molecular therapies and companion diagnostic tests to match the right drug(s) to the right patient as well as the recent arrival of gene and cell therapies capable of curing an individual patient’s disease.

In order to develop personalised treatment regimens that deliver better clinical outcomes and healthcare economic models for developers, providers and consumers, patient data is needed. 

This must combine real-time health and wellness telemetry consented to by an informed and engaged citizenship, with early screening and diagnostic data predicting predisposition, onset, prognosis and theranostics.

A novel Cambridge UK life science startup – Alchemab Therapeutics – looks set for global glory by identifying and harnessing the power of naturally protective antibodies to combat a broad range of hard-to-treat diseases.

It has Jane Osbourn, formerly head of the MedImmune Cambridge operation for AstraZeneca, as chief scientific officer and a set of executives and advisers to make investors’ mouths water.

Alchemab’s proposition is predicated not on the well worn approach of why certain people succumb to certain diseases but why certain people are less affected by disease and what factors contribute to the health of the ageing well.

How can some people live to a ripe old age, often past 100, without succumbing to conditions that can cripple or kill others who are much younger?

Alchemab has a foothold in Oxford but is committing to a Cambridge base and has been hiring hard throughout the COVID-19 crisis. Significantly, it has negotiated an alliance with global genome sequencing giant Illumina, whose European research nervecentre is at Granta Park.

Understanding the immune response by deep sequencing is key to Alchemab’s ambitions to scale but then so is accessing other crucial data relating to the individuals they study, for example, the patient’s  genetic background; microbiome – the genetic material of all the microbes (bacteria, fungi, protozoa and viruses) – that live on and inside the human gut; cognitive health and external factors such as environment and pollution.

Osbourn tells me the company has sufficient funding to comfortably get to Series A as it eyes inevitable global expansion. The Series A is not pressing and will be executed “‘when the time is right.”

Alchemab tags itself ‘the protective self antibody company’ with the aim of identifying novel unbiased targets and therapeutics by evaluating convergent protective antibody responses in groups of resilient patients. It is leveraging functional and advanced analytical approaches to evaluate antibody repertoires obtained from RNA from blood & tissue samples and its initial therapeutic focuses are on the areas of oncology, neurodegeneration and infectious diseases.

Heavyweight investors and collaborators are already on board and CEO Alex Leech, ex-Pfizer, has worked in Big Pharma and has years of experience starting biotechs. Scientific founders include Ruth McKernan of SV Health Managers and formerly CEO of Innovate UK and head of Pfizer’s site in Cambridge.

Osbourn shared with me some pretty chilling statistics covering disease areas such as breast, pancreatic, lung and inherited bowel cancer as well as Alzheimer’s, Huntington’s Disease and Frontotemporal dementia.

Alchemab is developing an impressive data gathering platform and patient sample hub that will grow exponentially over time, building profiles on individuals and populations that will help inform disease targets for drug discovery and novel therapeutics.

As Osbourn explains, self antibodies are known to have a role in modifying disease: They have been widely implicated in HIV, Amyotropic lateral sclerosis, breast cancer, malaria, auto-immune disease, MS, RA, T1DM, pneumonitis in AIREs disease and numerous neurological conditions.

The company’s platform-based approach profits from a unique combination of repertoire analysis, proteomic profiling and deep learning capabilities combined with proven therapeutics discovery expertise via a world-class team.

Its concept is entirely novel – focused on groups of resilient individuals as opposed to individual responses. This provides a higher likelihood of functional validation from the outset, Osbourn says.

The close working relationship with Illumina will enable sequencing to a greater sample depth meaning a higher chance of identifying less abundant antibodies, she adds.

And a global network of internationally leading collaborators provides a ready springboard for cross-border growth. US funders are among those to provide early stage capital and early collaborations with a partner in Europe should enable major expansion across the Channel.

Alchemab has already shown itself to be fleet-footed. It only lodged the early stage funding in the bank in November but during the lockdown put out several offers to potential new hires and also managed to produce a thought provoking paper on COVID-19.

It reported that deep sequencing of B cell receptor (BCR) heavy chains from a cohort of 19 COVID-19 patients from the UK revealed a stereotypical naive immune response to SARS-CoV-2 which is consistent across patients and may be a positive indicator of disease outcome (See https://www.biorxiv.org/).

This is only a snapshot of the exciting startup which has managed to put old heads on young shoulders in terms of the experienced practitioners steering the fortunes of a new kid on the block.

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Avacta Group plc in Cambridge is planning to rapidly accelerate its cancer therapies technology through a proposed £45 million fundraising.

It plans to use the proceeds to scale its broader Affimer® diagnostic products opportunities – including COVID-19 antigen rapid testing – and fast-track its in-house Affimer® and pre|CISION™ cancer therapy pipeline.

The growth blueprint includes expansion of the group’s in-house diagnostics product development capabilities spanning facilities, capital equipment, scientific, commercial and senior leadership teams. Commercial partnerships will also be fast-tracked.

Avacta says it is scaling from a strong base. Revenues for the 17 months to December 31 doubled to £5.5 million from £2.76m (12 months ended July 31, 2018). 

Importantly, revenues from the Affimer® diagnostics business increased over the same period, by 135 per cent as more customer evaluations of the Affimer® platform got underway. Avacta says its order intake and sales pipeline into 2020 are “the strongest to date.”

As Avacta CEO Dr Alastair Smith previously revealed, Avacta has entered into an exclusive global distribution agreement with Medusa19 for direct-to-consumer sales of its newly developed saliva-based rapid test for the COVID-19 antigen, subject to regulatory approvals. 

Shortly before this it announced a partnership with Cytiva (formerly GE Healthcare Life Sciences) to develop an Affimer®-based point-of-care rapid antigen test (in the form of a simple test strip), to indicate whether a person has the COVID-19 infection. The test is intended to give a result within minutes and is for use by both healthcare professionals and consumers.

Avacta is also collaborating with US business Adeptrix to develop and manufacture an Affimer®-based BAMS™ (bead-assisted mass spectrometry) coronavirus antigen test that will provide clinicians with a significant expansion of the available testing capacity for COVID-19 infection in hospitals.

The consensus view is that hundreds of millions of antigen tests will be required per month to support the fight against the pandemic and initial easing of the lock-down during 2020, and to deal with the long term challenge of endemic COVID-19.

Avacta is growing its senior team in the diagnostics division to include regulatory affairs and product management roles, and expand the commercial and technical teams to support the development and commercialisation of the COVID-19 test and its wider product pipeline.

The group will grow the therapeutics development team in Cambridge and add further clinical development resources to support the transition of several Affimer and pre|CISION therapeutic programmes through preclinical development into the clinic.

The  board anticipates strong near-term newsflow relating to the COVID-19 test developments with Cytiva and Adeptrix, further commercial partnerships to exploit the COVID-19 Affimer reagents and from ongoing commercial and technical progress in the core therapeutic and diagnostic businesses.