University Spin Out Company Secures £2 Million Investment
The biotechnology company Glythera, which spun out of the University with the support of RDSO, has been awarded £2 million investment from IP Group plc and the North East Technology Fund to revolutionise the treatment of major diseases.
The company, initially funded through the University’s Bath Crescent Seed Corn fund, was founded by Dr Andrew Watts and Dr Amanda Mackenzie from Pharmacy and Pharmacology to develop technologies for improving biopharmaceuticals.
Early interest from pharmaceutical companies validated the attraction of the technology.
With expertise in technological applications for biologics, such as protein and peptide therapeutics, Glythera also intend the application of their technology to lead to improved production methods for conjugate vaccines.
In recent years there has been a great push to develop new technologies that address the shortcomings of standard methods for manufacturing protein-based therapies.
Glythera’s technology will dramatically improve the biologic product design and manufacture, applicable across many disease areas including oncology, inflammation and infectious disease.
The dedicated facilities for Glythera’s technical and commercial development, now based in Newcastle, are overseen by Chief Operating Officer Dr David Simpson. He says: “We are obviously delighted to close this funding round in what remains a challenging environment. Our ability to do this is testament to the strength of the Glythera technology, combined with the leadership and technical skills of our team”.
This is reinforced by Mark Warne, Executive Director of IP Group plc, one of the UK’s leading Intellectual Property (IP) commercialisation companies for developing technology innovations from research intensive universities, such as Bath. He says: “This is a significant milestone in Glythera’s evolution as an emerging biotech company and is a testament to its core technologies, expertise and long term commercial strategy”.
Co-Founder Dr Andrew Watts, Pharmacy and Pharmacology, says: “It is extremely gratifying to see the successful translation of our academic research into the commercial sector. Glythera is yet another example demonstrating the impact and benefit that research developed here at Bath is making towards society”.
A current collaboration with US Food and Drug Administration (US FDA) funded by PATH, an international non-profit organisation that transforms global health through innovation, will see testing of a conjugate vaccine product. In responding to global health needs PATH are focused on solutions which include life-saving vaccines for women and children around the world, as supported by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation.
Protein drugs are widely considered the most exciting and rapidly growing sector of the pharmaceutical industry. The biologics and protein market in 2010 was worth an estimated $125 billion, 12% of total pharma sales, with biologics alone representing half of new drug approvals by the European Medicals Agency and the USA FDA.
If you would like advice on commercialising research please contact:
Graham Fisher (Research Commercialisation Manager, RDSO)
Email: G.J.Fisher@bath.ac.uk
Tel: +44(0) 1225 38 5705