Queen Mary, University of London: Biomarker specialist Activiomics receives investment from IP Group plc
Activiomics Ltd., the developer of innovative technologies for transforming the way in which drug biomarkers are identified, diagnostics are developed and drug candidates are identified and profiled, is pleased to announce that it has received investment of over £500,000 led by IP Group plc (LSE: ipo) ("IP Group"), the developer of intellectual property based businesses.
Activiomics' proprietary technology has broad application in the area of biomarker and drug discovery in a number of disease areas, including oncology and inflammation. Since its incorporation in February 2010, the company has demonstrated the value of its technology through revenue generating partnerships with big pharma, including GlaxoSmithKline, UCB and Genentech.
Mark Warne, Activiomics' CEO on secondment from IP Group, said: "Better prediction of clinical outcomes is vital to improve drug approval numbers." Pointing to recent high profile clinical trial failures, he continued "Biomarkers are a route to improving that prediction. That said, proving that new markers increase predictability in development and treatment is critical. Our technology will enable this and significantly contribute towards pharma and biotech's efforts to gain timely approvals by regulatory authorities".
Investors in the funding round included IP Group, IP Venture Fund (a venture capital fund managed by IP Group) and members of Activiomics' management. The funds raised will strengthen Activiomics' ability to grow its partnerships with pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies and to pursue the identification of novel predictive and prognostic markers in oncology using its proprietary label-free technology on exclusively accessed human tissue samples. The company will have access to state of the art mass spectrometry facilities while being advised by world class scientists, including its scientific founders: world leading expert in PI3K signalling Bart Vanhaesebroeck and pioneer in the field of label free proteomics Pedro Cutillas.