BioCity, the pioneering life science incubator and business collective, has today announced investment in precision medicine biotech, Kinomica Ltd., via the Innovate UK Precision Medicine Investment Accelerator.
Spun out from Barts Cancer Institute, Queen Mary University of London, Kinomica Ltd is an early stage precision medicine biotech developing novel technologies for companion diagnostics (CDx) and therapeutic development in precision medicines.
Graduates of the BioCity Accelerator and now based at Alderley Park, Kinomica Ltd have developed a powerful suite of advanced proprietary bioinformatics and phosphoproteomic analytical methods, that allows the direct measurement of multiple endogenous kinases.
Flagship innovation, KinoScan™ will focus on the field of oncology, working in collaboration with pharma to improve the monitoring of drug efficacy and response, and for the discovery of novel biomarkers to aid patient stratification and support superior clinical trial performance. Although initially focused on oncology, KinoScan™ has potential applications in other therapeutic areas such as autoimmune diseases, rheumatoid arthritis and neurological diseases.
Spun out in 2016 and based on the seminal work by Professor Pedro Cutillas as published by Nature, Kinomica Ltd has already worked in collaboration with big pharma, successfully applying its kinase analysis with on-market drugs.
The development of companion diagnostics and the advancement of precision medicine is a key priority for the UK government.
This is the latest investment announcement by BioCity, which is increasingly positioning itself as a leading life science investor.
To date, BioCity has made investments in twenty-nine life science ventures. BioCity specialises in seed funding via convertible loans for very early stage ventures and co-investment in growing life science ventures.
Claire Brown, director of investment for BioCity, said “We believe Kinomica are at the forefront of a new area. While genomic approaches have been successful in allowing the stratifying of patients, increasingly, understanding the molecular ‘re-wiring’ of tumours, such as that provided by KinoScan™, is critical. Kinomica provides unique insights that Pharma will be able to leverage, as evidenced by the traction already made to date with key partners in this sector.”
Jane Theaker Kinomica CEO commented “We are really excited that our Pharma customers and investors see the value of cell-signal profiling to gain insights that have a huge positive impact on patients lives. Our proprietary proteomics algorithms and database allows us to better identify drug targets, personalise drug treatments and develop diagnostics. While the genomics revolution in personalised medicine was driven by NGS, our KinoScan™ technology is proteomic next-generation sequencing.”
About BioCity
Home to more than 200 companies, BioCity is a pioneering life science incubator and business collective. Where ideas become reality, investment flows and businesses succeed.
Not the typical business incubator, BioCity takes a holistic approach to business support. Offering entrepreneur coaching, investment, flexible lab and office space and PAYG services within a UK-wide business collective.
Founded in 2002 by the University of Nottingham and Nottingham Trent University, BioCity originated in a former BASF Pharma research facility in Nottingham city centre.
In 2012 BioCity acquired the MSD research facility in Newhouse near Glasgow to create Glasgow, BioCity. This was closely followed by a second site in Nottingham, MediCity, which is located on the Boots campus and is a collaboration with Walgreens Boots Alliance. In 2016 the Newhouse site was further expanded to create Glasgow, MediCity. BioCity also operates at Alderley Park, Cheshire, Aberdeen and Newcastle.
The company has made 29 investments in early stage companies and has delivered a healthy growth in portfolio valuation. Funds are deployed from its own cash reserves and from a joint venture vehicle with AstraZeneca which BioCity manages.
In 2017, BioCity was identified as one of Europe’s fastest-growing companies in the Financial Times’ FT 1000 report. The BioCity model of ‘support from inception to incorporation’ initially challenged the industry standard but quickly became the industry leader due to the unprecedented survival rates of BioCity based businesses.
