Armed with a fresh injection of $26 million (£16.6), the U.K.'s e-Therapeutics is expanding and re-launching its discovery unit in Oxford, back where much of its original scientific inspiration came from in the early ‘90s. Altogether about 10 researchers will be brought in, either recruited or relocated, to focus on four new programs slated for human trials beginning next year.
"What we have learned is that we need quality people and there are three places in the world that specialize in our technology--Massachusetts, San Diego and Oxford," CEO Malcolm Young told a reporter for the Witney Gazette. "As a result, the decision to move is based on being able to bring in world class staff."
Their team focuses on what the biotech calls "network pharmacology," looking at the complex interaction of proteins on cells and how specific cells--such as cancer cells--can be targeted by new therapeutics. And as in-PharmaTechnologist reports, the expansion follows a period of turbulence triggered in 2008.
"With numerous trials set to report over the next two years and the prospect of new outputs from our discovery platform, we believe we are well placed to generate substantial value both in the near term and beyond," says the CEO.
- read the story from the Witney Gazette
- check out the in-PharmaTechnologist report