Those expecting an uneventful Budget were disappointed as the Chancellor announced some interesting changes to the taxation of businesses, writes Tim Shaw, partner at Ensors Chartered Accountants.

The principal changes announced are as follows though, as always, there are likely to be many changes announced in the small print which will need to be digested over the next few days. 

A temporary increase, for the two years ended 31 December 2020 in the level of the annual investment allowance to £1 million per annum has been announced.

Businesses will be able to spend up to this much each year on qualifying fixed asset additions and receive full tax relief in the year of acquisition. This is partly paid for by a reduction in the rate that capital allowances may be claimed on the special rate pool of six per cent per annum. 

Thankfully, the Chancellor put the immediate future of entrepreneur’s relief beyond question though he did double the qualifying investment period to 24 months. 

In addition, for disposals made on or after 29 October 2018, two new tests are added to the definition of a ‘personal company’. These require the claimant to have a minimum five per cent interest in both the distributable profits and the net assets of the company at issue in order for relief to be due. 

These changes are unexpected and could impact on ongoing transactions. With effect from April 2020, off-payroll working rules will be extended to the private sector, though the changes will not impact upon smaller businesses. 

The changes are likely to require companies to assess the relationship with contractors who provide services to them through personal service companies and operate payroll withholdings on payments made to the companies if the relationship is considered to represent that of employment. 

This could add a considerable compliance burden to businesses. Turning to R & D tax relief, whilst the repayable credit system is retained for small and medium sized companies, under the guise of an anti-avoidance measure, the Chancellor has announced that with effect from April 2020 the amount that a loss-making company can receive in R & D  tax credits in any one year will be capped at three times its total PAYE and National Insurance contributions liability for that year. 

As previously hinted, the Chancellor announced plans to introduce a UK Digital Services Tax. This will not be an online sales tax on goods bought online and will only be paid by profitable companies that have at least £500 million a year in global revenues.

The actual legislation will be subject to consultation first before the tax comes into effect in April 2020. It is expected to raise more than £400m a year, however it remains to be seen whether the companies will look to recover the tax from consumers.

The VAT registration and deregistration thresholds will not change for two years from 1 April 2020 and the registration threshold will remain at £85,000. In addition, motor fuel duties are frozen for the ninth year in a row.

Oxford2Cambridge Arc

The measures announced in support of the Cambridge-Milton Keynes-Oxford Growth Corridor are a further step towards making the region the UK’s next economic powerhouse, according to  property consultancy Bidwells. 

Recent Bidwells research found the Corridor’s economy would grow to £400 billion by 2050 if it continues expanding at four per cent – which Bidwells calculated is the average for the Corridor region since 1998 – as long as major investment is made in all types of infrastructure.

Today’s announcement of £20m of funding for the central section of East West Rail between Cambridge and Oxford via Milton Keynes is another step towards supporting this high level of growth. 

Patrick McMahon, Bidwells senior partner, said: “These measures are another step towards making the Growth Corridor the UK’s next Economic Powerhouse.

“The Government’s further support for its science and technology-focussed Industrial Strategy – coupled with this new infrastructure investment – puts this region at the heart of the UK economy. We called for clear government leadership on the Corridor project ahead of this year’s Budget and these announcements begin to provide it.”  

Bidwells recent research also found that an estimated 15-20m sq ft of further office and lab space, across approximately 540 hectares of land, will be needed to accommodate this £400bllion projected growth.

Those expecting an uneventful Budget were disappointed as the Chancellor announced some interesting changes to the taxation of businesses, writes Tim Shaw, partner at Ensors Chartered Accountants.

The principal changes announced are as follows though, as always, there are likely to be many changes announced in the small print which will need to be digested over the next few days. 

A temporary increase, for the two years ended 31 December 2020 in the level of the annual investment allowance to £1 million per annum has been announced.

Businesses will be able to spend up to this much each year on qualifying fixed asset additions and receive full tax relief in the year of acquisition. This is partly paid for by a reduction in the rate that capital allowances may be claimed on the special rate pool of six per cent per annum. 

Thankfully, the Chancellor put the immediate future of entrepreneur’s relief beyond question though he did double the qualifying investment period to 24 months. 

In addition, for disposals made on or after 29 October 2018, two new tests are added to the definition of a ‘personal company’. These require the claimant to have a minimum five per cent interest in both the distributable profits and the net assets of the company at issue in order for relief to be due. 

These changes are unexpected and could impact on ongoing transactions. With effect from April 2020, off-payroll working rules will be extended to the private sector, though the changes will not impact upon smaller businesses. 

The changes are likely to require companies to assess the relationship with contractors who provide services to them through personal service companies and operate payroll withholdings on payments made to the companies if the relationship is considered to represent that of employment. 

This could add a considerable compliance burden to businesses. Turning to R & D tax relief, whilst the repayable credit system is retained for small and medium sized companies, under the guise of an anti-avoidance measure, the Chancellor has announced that with effect from April 2020 the amount that a loss-making company can receive in R & D  tax credits in any one year will be capped at three times its total PAYE and National Insurance contributions liability for that year. 

As previously hinted, the Chancellor announced plans to introduce a UK Digital Services Tax. This will not be an online sales tax on goods bought online and will only be paid by profitable companies that have at least £500 million a year in global revenues.

The actual legislation will be subject to consultation first before the tax comes into effect in April 2020. It is expected to raise more than £400m a year, however it remains to be seen whether the companies will look to recover the tax from consumers.

The VAT registration and deregistration thresholds will not change for two years from 1 April 2020 and the registration threshold will remain at £85,000. In addition, motor fuel duties are frozen for the ninth year in a row.

Oxford2Cambridge Arc

The measures announced in support of the Cambridge-Milton Keynes-Oxford Growth Corridor are a further step towards making the region the UK’s next economic powerhouse, according to  property consultancy Bidwells. 

Recent Bidwells research found the Corridor’s economy would grow to £400 billion by 2050 if it continues expanding at four per cent – which Bidwells calculated is the average for the Corridor region since 1998 – as long as major investment is made in all types of infrastructure.

Today’s announcement of £20m of funding for the central section of East West Rail between Cambridge and Oxford via Milton Keynes is another step towards supporting this high level of growth. 

Patrick McMahon, Bidwells senior partner, said: “These measures are another step towards making the Growth Corridor the UK’s next Economic Powerhouse.

“The Government’s further support for its science and technology-focussed Industrial Strategy – coupled with this new infrastructure investment – puts this region at the heart of the UK economy. We called for clear government leadership on the Corridor project ahead of this year’s Budget and these announcements begin to provide it.”  

Bidwells recent research also found that an estimated 15-20m sq ft of further office and lab space, across approximately 540 hectares of land, will be needed to accommodate this £400bllion projected growth.

Those expecting an uneventful Budget were disappointed as the Chancellor announced some interesting changes to the taxation of businesses, writes Tim Shaw, partner at Ensors Chartered Accountants.

The principal changes announced are as follows though, as always, there are likely to be many changes announced in the small print which will need to be digested over the next few days. 

A temporary increase, for the two years ended 31 December 2020 in the level of the annual investment allowance to £1 million per annum has been announced.

Businesses will be able to spend up to this much each year on qualifying fixed asset additions and receive full tax relief in the year of acquisition. This is partly paid for by a reduction in the rate that capital allowances may be claimed on the special rate pool of six per cent per annum. 

Thankfully, the Chancellor put the immediate future of entrepreneur’s relief beyond question though he did double the qualifying investment period to 24 months. 

In addition, for disposals made on or after 29 October 2018, two new tests are added to the definition of a ‘personal company’. These require the claimant to have a minimum five per cent interest in both the distributable profits and the net assets of the company at issue in order for relief to be due. 

These changes are unexpected and could impact on ongoing transactions. With effect from April 2020, off-payroll working rules will be extended to the private sector, though the changes will not impact upon smaller businesses. 

The changes are likely to require companies to assess the relationship with contractors who provide services to them through personal service companies and operate payroll withholdings on payments made to the companies if the relationship is considered to represent that of employment. 

This could add a considerable compliance burden to businesses. Turning to R & D tax relief, whilst the repayable credit system is retained for small and medium sized companies, under the guise of an anti-avoidance measure, the Chancellor has announced that with effect from April 2020 the amount that a loss-making company can receive in R & D  tax credits in any one year will be capped at three times its total PAYE and National Insurance contributions liability for that year. 

As previously hinted, the Chancellor announced plans to introduce a UK Digital Services Tax. This will not be an online sales tax on goods bought online and will only be paid by profitable companies that have at least £500 million a year in global revenues.

The actual legislation will be subject to consultation first before the tax comes into effect in April 2020. It is expected to raise more than £400m a year, however it remains to be seen whether the companies will look to recover the tax from consumers.

The VAT registration and deregistration thresholds will not change for two years from 1 April 2020 and the registration threshold will remain at £85,000. In addition, motor fuel duties are frozen for the ninth year in a row.

Oxford2Cambridge Arc

The measures announced in support of the Cambridge-Milton Keynes-Oxford Growth Corridor are a further step towards making the region the UK’s next economic powerhouse, according to  property consultancy Bidwells. 

Recent Bidwells research found the Corridor’s economy would grow to £400 billion by 2050 if it continues expanding at four per cent – which Bidwells calculated is the average for the Corridor region since 1998 – as long as major investment is made in all types of infrastructure.

Today’s announcement of £20m of funding for the central section of East West Rail between Cambridge and Oxford via Milton Keynes is another step towards supporting this high level of growth. 

Patrick McMahon, Bidwells senior partner, said: “These measures are another step towards making the Growth Corridor the UK’s next Economic Powerhouse.

“The Government’s further support for its science and technology-focussed Industrial Strategy – coupled with this new infrastructure investment – puts this region at the heart of the UK economy. We called for clear government leadership on the Corridor project ahead of this year’s Budget and these announcements begin to provide it.”  

Bidwells recent research also found that an estimated 15-20m sq ft of further office and lab space, across approximately 540 hectares of land, will be needed to accommodate this £400bllion projected growth.

Those expecting an uneventful Budget were disappointed as the Chancellor announced some interesting changes to the taxation of businesses, writes Tim Shaw, partner at Ensors Chartered Accountants.

The principal changes announced are as follows though, as always, there are likely to be many changes announced in the small print which will need to be digested over the next few days. 

A temporary increase, for the two years ended 31 December 2020 in the level of the annual investment allowance to £1 million per annum has been announced.

Businesses will be able to spend up to this much each year on qualifying fixed asset additions and receive full tax relief in the year of acquisition. This is partly paid for by a reduction in the rate that capital allowances may be claimed on the special rate pool of six per cent per annum. 

Thankfully, the Chancellor put the immediate future of entrepreneur’s relief beyond question though he did double the qualifying investment period to 24 months. 

In addition, for disposals made on or after 29 October 2018, two new tests are added to the definition of a ‘personal company’. These require the claimant to have a minimum five per cent interest in both the distributable profits and the net assets of the company at issue in order for relief to be due. 

These changes are unexpected and could impact on ongoing transactions. With effect from April 2020, off-payroll working rules will be extended to the private sector, though the changes will not impact upon smaller businesses. 

The changes are likely to require companies to assess the relationship with contractors who provide services to them through personal service companies and operate payroll withholdings on payments made to the companies if the relationship is considered to represent that of employment. 

This could add a considerable compliance burden to businesses. Turning to R & D tax relief, whilst the repayable credit system is retained for small and medium sized companies, under the guise of an anti-avoidance measure, the Chancellor has announced that with effect from April 2020 the amount that a loss-making company can receive in R & D  tax credits in any one year will be capped at three times its total PAYE and National Insurance contributions liability for that year. 

As previously hinted, the Chancellor announced plans to introduce a UK Digital Services Tax. This will not be an online sales tax on goods bought online and will only be paid by profitable companies that have at least £500 million a year in global revenues.

The actual legislation will be subject to consultation first before the tax comes into effect in April 2020. It is expected to raise more than £400m a year, however it remains to be seen whether the companies will look to recover the tax from consumers.

The VAT registration and deregistration thresholds will not change for two years from 1 April 2020 and the registration threshold will remain at £85,000. In addition, motor fuel duties are frozen for the ninth year in a row.

Oxford2Cambridge Arc

The measures announced in support of the Cambridge-Milton Keynes-Oxford Growth Corridor are a further step towards making the region the UK’s next economic powerhouse, according to  property consultancy Bidwells. 

Recent Bidwells research found the Corridor’s economy would grow to £400 billion by 2050 if it continues expanding at four per cent – which Bidwells calculated is the average for the Corridor region since 1998 – as long as major investment is made in all types of infrastructure.

Today’s announcement of £20m of funding for the central section of East West Rail between Cambridge and Oxford via Milton Keynes is another step towards supporting this high level of growth. 

Patrick McMahon, Bidwells senior partner, said: “These measures are another step towards making the Growth Corridor the UK’s next Economic Powerhouse.

“The Government’s further support for its science and technology-focussed Industrial Strategy – coupled with this new infrastructure investment – puts this region at the heart of the UK economy. We called for clear government leadership on the Corridor project ahead of this year’s Budget and these announcements begin to provide it.”  

Bidwells recent research also found that an estimated 15-20m sq ft of further office and lab space, across approximately 540 hectares of land, will be needed to accommodate this £400bllion projected growth.

It is quite likely that Phillip Hammond will face a difficult decision; to increase the tax take in order to pay for the costs of Brexit, or to continue to support business and entrepreneurship post Brexit through the tax system, writes Tim Shaw – Ensors’ Associate Tax Partner.

Given the current state of the Brexit negotiations, it is almost impossible to predict which way he will go, and he may well be walking a tightrope on the day.

The UK’s corporation tax rate of 19 per cent is internationally competitive and will also reduce to 17 per cent in April 2020. 

Subsequent reductions may be possible, but I believe that it would highly unlikely that any announcements will be announced pre-Brexit. 

The UK’s rules relating to R & D tax relief and the enterprise management incentive scheme are currently restricted by EU state aid rules and are therefore unlikely to be favourably changed pre Brexit.

The abolition of entrepreneur’s relief is often feared with every Budget, but I consider that this unlikely at present. There have been no indications to suggest this and indeed there have been recent consultations on certain favourable changes to this legislation where shareholdings are diluted. 

More concerningly, the Government is looking to introduce legislation requiring companies to potentially apply PAYE and NIC when payments are made in certain circumstances to companies owned by contractors. 

In effect, the contractor’s company would be ignored if it was considered that the relationship with the contactor was, de facto, employment. This would mirror what was introduced in the Public Sector in 2017 and it is possible that such legislation could be extended to the Private Sector from as early as 6 April 2019. 

The annual dividend allowance of £2,000 is understood to cost the Treasury £1.3 billion per annum. The removal of this relief may be easy to “sell” to the electorate and could therefore be a relatively painless win for the Government.

The Chancellor recently stated that he intended to impose a new “digital services tax” and it has since been reported that the Treasury is planning to target the advertising revenues of companies such as Facebook and Google. Such a tax could be difficult to implement and there must be a risk, particularly in the current political climate, of retaliatory action if this was seen as directly targeting US companies.

As with every Budget now, considerable anti-avoidance legislation is introduced in the small print. Whilst this is often rightly targeted at tax schemes and aggressive planning, the breadth of the legislation can often impact adversely on bone-fide commercial transactions.

It would be helpful if such legislation could be specifically targeted or, alternatively, there should be clearer guidance than often now exists on when HMRC would look to use such legislation.

Finally, Making Tax Digital is being introduced for VAT purposes with effect from 1 April 2019.  It is unlikely that this will now be delayed and indeed to do so now could be quite frustrating for those taxpayers who have made preparations for this.  However, clarity on the dates of introduction for income tax and corporation tax would be welcomed.

ensors.co.uk

It is usually hard to feel sorry for a politician, but Philip Hammond has a difficult task ahead on Monday when he will deliver the Autumn Budget, writes Nick Edgley, Personal Tax Manager at Ensors. 

He needs to raise funds to pay for the ‘end of austerity’, plus the extra £20 billion promised for the NHS and sort out the Universal Credit debacle. At the same time, he must try and keep the electorate sweet in case we are forced into another general election due to the Brexit negotiations.

As a result, it is highly unlikely that there will be any tax giveaways for individuals and families, and more than possible that there will be some nasty stings, disguised as making tax ‘fairer’ for all.

So how will Hammond raise the extra cash without an obviously unacceptable cost for the voters?

First things first: The Chancellor can usually rely on increasing the duty on non-essentials such as alcohol and cigarettes, and there will probably be a couple of extra pence on each of those.

We already know that there will be no increase in fuel duty because this was announced by Theresa May a few weeks ago. In theory this is a tax reduction, but of course the Treasury is already receiving extra VAT on sales of fuel due to the general rise in prices. 

In early 2016 the price of diesel dropped to less than £1 per litre, but it has since increased sharply to its current price of more than £1.30. Fuel duty is charged at a fixed rate of 57.95 pence per litre, which has been frozen since 2012, but VAT is charged at 20 per cent on the wholesale price plus the duty.

Income Tax is by far the biggest contributor towards the Exchequer, so any changes to this will have a big impact. Hammond may therefore decide to reverse the promised increase in the tax-free personal allowance.

This is currently £11,850 and was expected to go up to £12,500 from April 2019. Also, the threshold at which the tax rate rises from 20 per cent to 40 per cent was set to increase to £50,000 from its current level of £46,350.  These may both be put on hold for the moment. 

The promised abolition of class 2 National Insurance contributions, paid by the self-employed, has already been cancelled. 

There are also strong rumours that there will be further restrictions on tax relief for pension contributions. Due to the way that the tax relief works, it costs a basic rate taxpayer £80 to put £100 into their pension fund, whereas for a higher rate taxpayer it only costs £60, and for the very highest earners the cost is only £55. 

There has long been talk of a flat rate of tax relief on pension contributions, which would help to reduce this unfairness, but that would be very complex to put in place, and the Treasury has other, more pressing, tasks to worry about just at the moment.

Over the last few years more employees have been paying into pensions under the workplace pensions requirements which were imposed by Government, so it is unlikely that tax relief will be removed entirely.  

But there may be a further reduction to the cap on contributions, which would be considerably easier to implement and would not affect most taxpayers.  

Currently, the maximum payment into a pension is £40,000 per year (reduced to a minimum of £10,000 for higher earners), and under some circumstances more relief can be claimed where the maximum was not paid in earlier years.  It is also possible that the facility to use up this unused relief will be withdrawn.

Finally, it is very unusual to have a Budget on Monday. It is rumoured that Hammond had pencilled in Wednesday 31st for the speech, only to be told that as it is Hallowe’en there might be unwelcome headlines the next day.  Even so, this might be a spine-chillingly horrible event!

https://www.ensors.co.uk/

Our recent intellectual property summit in Cambridge brought together dynamic businesses and entrepreneurs from across the city’s vibrant pharmaceutical and technology sectors, writes Steven Gurney of 
Marks & Clerk. 

Cambridge remains a global innovation hub with the ability to produce world class enterprises. With the life-sciences sector alone worth an estimated £70 billion annually to UK plc, however, protecting this innovation is critical. This is where intellectual property (IP) comes in. 

As technology continues to push the boundaries of what’s possible, it is creating a world of new opportunities for companies willing to innovate. 

These new possibilities, and the race to find solutions to the healthcare challenges of our time, is reflected in the European Patent Office’s most recent annual report from earlier in 2018, which revealed that patent filings in the biotechnology and pharmaceutical sectors grew by 25.3 per cent and 15.7 per cent, respectively, over 2017. 

So, how is emerging technology impacting the pharmaceutical sector, and how can robust intellectual property help manage these impacts?

Technology and Pharmaceuticals 

Discussion around artificial intelligence continues to grow with the technology poised to create everything from cars which communicate with each other to mitigate the build-up of traffic, to increasingly sophisticated personal assistants to help manage busy lives. 

Our own research at Marks & Clerk reveals that more than 78,000 patent applications relating to AI were filed around the world in 2017. On current trends, we’ll see around 86,000 such patent applications filed in 2018, an almost twofold increase in the past decade. 

Every industry will be impacted by AI and the pharmaceutical sector is no exception. The power of AI data processing and analysis is being increasingly applied to drug discovery for example. It is clear that encoded within our genetic makeup is a huge amount of data and sifting this data with a human mind is hugely time consuming. 

The processing power available to advanced computer programmes and potential AI programmes however – which can recognise patterns in huge sets of information – has the potential to significantly hasten drug discovery and give companies which harness AI an edge over their rivals.

Likewise, companies like C4X are utilising powerful software to create increasingly sophisticated platforms in which researchers can access databases of virtual molecules and interact with them in the search for novel medicines. 

These developments will benefit the work of drug discovery and pharmaceutical innovation, and ultimately patients around the world for whom new treatments and therapies will be coming to market. They will also require IP law to evolve. 

The law is continuously evolving in its approach to patenting AI, and grey areas remain. The European Patent Office’s recently updated guidelines on this subject provide some framework for applicants working in this area.  

Similar questions are raised by additive manufacturing, or 3D printing. This technology relies upon the digitisation of information, and the transmission of that information to a 3D printer which can then print an object. We are only beginning to understand the possibilities of this technology and seeing the implications it might have for pharmaceuticals. 

Again, this will require new thinking about IP and an approach which aims to protect the digital expression of an idea or technology, as well as the physical expression. 

It will also require new thinking about geographical IP strategies. 3D printing circumnavigates traditional borders and customs checks, and also means anyone with a 3D printer and your data could counterfeit your innovation with no pharmaceutical expertise. 

A future-proofed IP strategy can mitigate these risks and also advise on technologies that can be employed to protect digital data – blockchain anyone?

These are complicated challenges but also huge opportunities for those companies willing to invest in innovation and protecting that innovation. 
Cambridge’s pharmaceutical sector is booming and, in many respects, the UK’s pharma sector is leading the way on the fusion of pharma and tech. Robust and progressive IP will be crucial to ensuring it maintains this advantage. 

Over my career I have learnt a few hard lessons and one of the most valuable is when to say no to a potential client, writes Fiona Hotston Moore, partner at Ensors Chartered Accountants.

Unfortunately, when you are starting out, in a recession, when you change firms or become a partner you are at your most vulnerable to the ‘preying’ client.

However, these clients can be the hardest to ditch and there tends to be a painful post mortem to the work. I would always say trust your instincts and if you have concerns about the client take a second opinion and be prepared to say no. So who are these ‘parasitic’ clients?

The ‘expert’

The expert is the client who makes it very clear from the initial call or meeting that they know it all. They are the expert in your field and they are seeking your services for convenience. 

They will also make it clear that, as they already know it all, they expect a heavily discounted fee. Put simply they won’t value your expertise or experience. Once engaged they will lean on you at every opportunity. 

The ‘wink wink, nudge nudge’ client

This is the client who is looking to bend every rule and will be seeking to push you beyond your professional boundaries. Beware however, if you make it clear where your boundaries lie they will instead try and hide their actions from you. Be careful you are not unwittingly caught out.

The serial litigant 

This is the client who has a history of suing their advisers. Beware as they are typically the most charming client. 

The rude client

Strong or difficult clients are fine. Difficult clients expect excellent service and will respect you making your views known and being prepared to stand up to them. Rude clients, however, should not be tolerated and particularly if they are rude to your team. 

The ‘coming tomorrow’ client

These are the clients who don’t deliver on time. It will be evident from the start when they don’t return the signed engagement letter. They will then fail to send in crucial paperwork such that you will be working late nights and weekends to meet known deadlines and then – guess what – they won’t pay the fees when they are due. 

Fortunately, the majority of clients are great clients and if treated well will be loyal clients and a pleasure to work for. 

Cambridge life science investor Dr Jonathan Milner has lifted the lid on what he calls a broken drug discovery process and called for a more enlightened approach utilising human cells in research and ending animal experiments.

Dr Milner is backing Cambridge UK startup Elpis Biomed and believes its technology will transform a drug discovery process which often descends into a busted flush. Dr Milner, co-founder of life science tools provider Abcam, pulled no punches in an address to the recent European Laboratory Research & Innovation Group (ELRIG) Drug Discovery Conference.

During his plenary address on ‘Opportunities in the Golden Age of Biology’ Dr Milner said: “Over the past decades, the return on investment on pharmaceutical research and development has suffered exponential decline.

“A main contributor to the rising costs of drug development are high failure rates, both at the pre-clinical and clinical stage.

“The causes for drug failure are likely due to the biological differences between the current animal models and cell lines used for drug discovery and human biology. The solution to this problem is to integrate human cell models early into the drug development process.”

Although human cells are better models for drugs screening, few were featured at the ELRIG conference. Dr Milner commented: “The lack of human cell models being utilised boils down to the fact that the current technology for generating patient derived cells does not meet the requirements for drug screening.”

He said that Elpis, backed by Dr Milner’s personal investment, “provides the first robust and scalable solution of functional biologically-relevant cells for drug development,” adding “Elpis human cells can fix the broken drug discovery process by replacing animal experiments.” 

Based at ideaSpace South on the Cambridge Biomedical Campus, Elpis is a spin-out from the Laboratory of the Wellcome Trust MRC Cambridge Stem Cell Institute at the University of Cambridge.

Dr Mark Kotter, scientific founder of Elpis BioMed concluded: “Elpis’s mission is to make human cells easy. Our proprietary OPTi-OX technology allows us to produce human cells of unprecedented quality, purity, and consistency. 

“We are developing a wide range of cell products to support the research, drug discovery and cell therapy communities and are delighted that our technology has been brought to the attention of an audience of drug discovery experts by an industry heavyweight like Dr Milner.”

• PHOTOGRAPH SHOWS: Dr Jonathan Milner

Research into neurological disorders – increasingly a cause of death – has taken a major advance through an Oxbridge collaboration backed by BBSRC funding.

Researchers at the University of Oxford have formed a new industry partnership with Axol Bioscience of Cambridge, which leverages Nobel Prize-winning stem cell technology.

The partners have secured funding from the BBSRC to collaborate in creating human models of the cerebellum with induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs) for studies of neurological disorders. The cerebellum is one of the most identifiable parts of the brain. It is extremely important for being able to perform everyday voluntary tasks such as walking and writing. It is also essential to being able to stay balanced and upright.

Neurological disorder-associated deaths have increased by 39 per cent in the UK since 2001 with over 10 million people living with a neurological condition that has a significant impact on their lives. 

Due to a lack of translatable models that provide an accurate basis to study neurological disorders in humans, developing new treatments and therapies for these conditions is challenging. However, this could soon change.

Esther Becker, Associate Professor in Neurobiology at the University of Oxford, said: “This collaboration allows us for the first time to study developing human nerve cells in the laboratory and to coax them into forming a brain-like structure. In our case, we plan to instruct the human iPSCs to organise into a cerebellum-like tissue.

“I’m very excited to be working with Axol on this project. It will allow us to take advantage of their expertise in the iPSC field and accelerate the future applications of our research.”

Professor Becker made the BBSRC joint-funding application earlier this year after being introduced to Axol Bioscience, a biotech firm which specialises in human cell culture technologies, through IN-PART’s matchmaking platform for university-industry collaboration.

The Oxford-Axol collaboration has been awarded BBSRC funding in the form of an iCASE studentship, a joint-managed PhD project that will develop a reproducible method for generating specific and mature subpopulations of human cerebellar neurons in the lab.

“This research is of great value to the scientific community as there is a need for relevant translatable models in which to test and develop drugs for CNS [central nervous system] disorders,” said Yichen Shi, CEO and co-founder of Axol Bioscience.

“Current models used during drug development tend to be immortalised cell lines or animals, both of which do not fully represent human cell phenotypes or disease.”

The majority of new candidate drugs developed to treat neurological disorders fail in Phase II and III clinical trials, with very few making it to Phase IV approval.

What’s more, in recent years there have been significant project shutdowns and facility closures in the neuroscience wings of the pharmaceutical industry. This is thought to be due to safety issues, low success rates, and increasing R & D costs.

The goal of the Oxford-Axol collaboration will be to model aspects of human cerebellar development that could in the future be used as platforms for the screening of future therapeutic treatments. 

The Oxford-Axol researchers will carry out extensive studies into brain development, as well as the molecular and cellular processes that go wrong in central nervous system diseases.

“It’s fantastic to see that the iCASE studentship was awarded. I look forward to seeing how the project develops and hope this is the start of a great relationship between the two institutes,” said Dr Siobhan Dennis, Industry Partnerships Manager at the University of Oxford.

“This was a completely new interaction and one that would not have occurred without the project being presented on IN-PART.”

The successful PhD candidate will benefit from the Oxford Interdisciplinary Bioscience Doctoral Training Partnership core skills and career development training while spending time in the Becker lab and during their industrial placement at Axol Bioscience’s labs at Chesterford Research Park – at the heart of the Cambridge life sciences cluster.

Axol’s Nobel Prize-winning iPSC technology is complemented by a full range of primary human cells and other reagents which it provides to scientists worldwide. Axol has continued a rapid spurt of expansion by opening a new operational hub in Massachusetts to support the company’s customer base in the United States and Canada.

• PHOTOGRAPH SHOWS: Axol Bioscience CEO and co-founder, Yichen Shi