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Catapult continues to invest in BioCity
30/09/2009
“Nottingham should be proud of what it has achieved in the bioscience and wider technology field of environmental sciences, medical devices and services,” according to a leading Midlands venture capitalist.
Rob Carroll, Managing Director of Catapult Venture Managers, says that the city has rightly emerged as the fourth major player for bioscience innovation joining the recognised national hubs of Oxford, Cambridge and London. “The success of BioCity and now the Science Park has put the city well and truly on the map.
“We have shared in that success by investing in a number of fledgling companies operating out of BioCity including R5 Pharmaceuticals, Haemostatix, Critical Pharmaceuticals, Cellaura, Food and Drug Analytical Services and Monica Healthcare and. In each case we have gone to provide further development funding to take these companies to the next stage of development.
“BioCity has become the UK’s largest bioscience incubator, providing a home for fledgling biotechnology and healthcare companies. BioCity is an excellent example of partnership and co-operation between East Midlands Development Agency, Nottingham Trent University and the University of Nottingham in order to establish the facility.
“Technology is a key sector for the future of the UK economy as a whole, and our industry here in the East Midlands is at the cutting edge of this rapidly evolving marketplace, comparing favourably with the best in the world.
“Catapult has played its part in helping to develop the region’s bioscience technology through funding via our East Midlands Regional Venture Capital Fund (EMRVCF) – the investment period for this fund has come to an end -and now via the Catapult Growth Fund,” he added.
The East Midlands thriving technology sector is supported by excellent research institutions underpinned by a number of region-wide initiatives including incubation programmes and grant funding. These include grants from the RDA and venture capital schemes with Government backing such as the East Midlands Early Growth Fund.
“Clearly, significant investments need to be made into these companies and there are risks attached for any investor. The path to bringing a product to market is a long and involved process and there are clearly no guarantees. That said, the potential returns can be immense and more than make up for any investment failures along the way,” he said.
Rob Carroll continues: “We believe that when we invest in a business it becomes a partnership based on mutual trust and confidence in each other. Just because the economy is looking far from healthy at the moment is no reason to back off from investment.
Catapult, which specialises in the sub £2million market, has continued to invest in companies throughout the economic cycle of the past nine months, whilst the banks have pulled back from lending.
“In April this year we invested a further £300k in Monica Healthcare as part of a £1.1m finding package with PUK Ventures injecting £750k, University of Nottingham £100k and private investors contributing the remainder.”
Monica, a ‘spin-out’ from the University of Nottingham in May 2005 - led by Managing Director Dr. Carl Barratt - are developers of a new breed of revolutionary fetal monitoring equipment, and are one of the East Midlands region’s ‘start-up’ success stories.
Jonathan Earl, Investment Director with Catapult Venture Managers, commented: “The latest funding in Monica is to support the ongoing growth of the company which is continuing to work on new applications for the device and work towards getting regulatory approval in the US and expansion into key markets. Our cumulative investment into the company is now £1m.
“In addition, to our financial commitment we also introduced Paul Harper to the business as non-executive chairman.”
Dr. Carl Barrett commented: “The potential for Monica’s technology is very exciting and the latest round of funding will help support further expansion into key markets.”
Other Catapult investments include R5 Pharmaceuticals, one of the most exciting new biotech/pharmaceutical services companies in the UK and the winner of the 2008 Nottingham Evening Post Award for ‘New Enterprise of the Year.’
R5 operates a state of the art formulation and manufacturing facility at BioCity which is dedicated to solving the challenge of formulating the next generation of drugs for clinical trials evaluation. The facility has the capacity for manufacturing all types of drug product routinely used in clinical trials from injections to tablets and from creams to inhalers. The Company has a global client base and is working on a wide range of new medicines for treating unmet clinical needs.
Non Executive Directors on the Board include Dr. Ian Wilding, bioscience entrepreneur and Glenn Crocker, CEO of BioCity. Dr Wilding commented: “Whilst the success of R5 Pharma is an undoubted testimony to the skills of the management team and staff, it also validates the decision of the BioCity Board to directly invest in its own assets as part of a new commercialisation strategy which continues to evolve with further investments expected later this year.”
He added: “As one of the founding Directors of BioCity in 2002, I am delighted that the bravery shown in those early days has been rewarded by the prominence of Nottingham as a bioscience commercial centre of excellence.”
A series of investments totaling almost £700k has been made by Catapult to enable drug delivery company Critical Pharmaceuticals to further develop its technology and product portfolio.
The company, a spin-out form Nottingham University, has a very strong management team including CEO Lisbeth Illum, Chairman David Gough, Chief Business Officer Gareth King and CSO Professor Steve Howdle of Nottingham University. The company is commercialising research in to high pressure CO2 polymer technology.
Jonathan Earl commented: “Critical Pharmaceuticals creates high value added therapeutics by applying its breakthrough, and proprietary, technology to transform the delivery of challenging molecules.
“The company’s focus is on the development of controlled release products of approved biologics where current technologies cannot solve the inherent problems with these drugs.
“For biologics such as human growth hormone, erythropoietin (EPO) and beta-interferon, the current technologies often damage the biologic and/or leave potentially toxic solvent residues in the final product.”
Critical Pharmaceuticals solves these problems with a simple, one-step, patented formulation process. As a result, a significant improvement in yields can be achieved, presenting a significant opportunity for pharmaceutical companies to reduce costs of manufacturing and wastage in high cost or problematic drugs.
Rob Carroll concluded: “Nottingham continues to develop as a city and, because of its historical ties with large companies such as Boots, has a large skilled workforce on which to draw upon. This in itself has helped attract healthcare companies to the area and, the specialist strength in Nottingham University, has resulted in numerous successful healthcare spinouts. The University’s deserved reputation and strong track record has attracted high calibre students and this in turn will continue to attract more healthcare businesses to the region. Add in specialist facilities such as BioCity and the Science Park, and specialist funders; and the city has the key pillars in place to continue to grow and excel in this sector.”
Submitted by Sarah Crennell