Sandwich, Kent, UK / 24 September 2024 / A group of former Pfizer employees have successfully created their own businesses based at and supported by Discovery Park, a thriving life sciences community in Kent. 

The Cystic Fibrosis Antimicrobial Resistance (CF AMR) Syndicate has today announced the first cohort of awardees of its Collaborative Discovery Programme (CDP) funding.

The £3 million programme, funded by LifeArc, will support six early-stage novel antimicrobial projects over two years to accelerate new treatments for lung infections in people with CF.

• Laurence Reid joins as Chairman, previously Decibel Therapeutics, Warp Drive Bio, Alnylam, and Third Rock Ventures
• Brad Crutchfield appointed as Non-Executive Director, previously 10x Genomics, QIAGEN, Illumina, and Bio-Rad Laboratories

Cambridge, UK – September 20th 2024 - The Cambridge Crystallographic Data Centre (CCDC) is pleased to announce the integration of our industry-validated Genetic Optimization for Ligand Docking (GOLD) software with Cadence Molecular Sciences (OpenEye)’s Orion platform. This collaboration provides computational and medicinal chemists with a powerful new toolset to streamline and enhance their protein–ligand docking workflows on Cadence Molecular Sciences cloud-native Orion platform, a crucial step in pharmaceutical development. 

Discovery Spark is a transformative innovation growth programme for early-stage companies, packed with invaluable resources and support. Across a number of in-person sessions led by seasoned professionals and industry leaders, participants will gain the essential skills needed to lay robust foundations in their business and prepare for investment. Discovery Spark is aimed at businesses across a diverse range of sectors including biotech, medtech, diagnostics and advanced therapies and those who have raised up to £1 million in equity.

• Investment to enable progression of pipeline of novel degrader assets through pre-clinical development and support further development of GlueSEEKER™ platform
• Led by Parkwalk Advisors alongside existing investors BGF, Dr Jonathan Milner, Amadeus Capital and Astellas Venture Management

• Round co-led by BGF, Octopus Ventures and M Ventures, with support from new corporate investor, Eli Lilly and Company, and existing investors, IQ Capital and Meltwind
• Appointment of Edwin Moses as Chairman to support the leadership team in maximising the value of the technology platform
• Novel “nanosyringe” platform can deliver complex biologic payloads selectively and intracellularly, unlocking the interior of the cell for new intervention possibilities in unmet medical needs

Pioneer Group, a specialist in life science infrastructure and venture building, has
teamed up with global healthcare company Novo Nordisk to launch a Golden
Ticket designed to help accelerate innovations in cardiometabolic diseases, rare
blood and rare endocrine disorders.

The Golden Ticket programme is aimed at early-stage biotech companies focused
on novel drug targets and transformational medicines in cardiometabolic disease,
with robust research plans and potential for successful research development.