£12m cash injection for gene therapy specialists
ABRISTOL-BASED company that specialises in cell and gene therapy (CGT) has secured a £12m investment to fund expansion plans that could create 160 new jobs.
Exmoor Pharma is planning to use the initial funding from healthcare investment firm MVM Partners to help create a new 50,000 sq ft facility in the city.
The company said the new site would help increase its capacity for process development and improve its clinical manufacturing practices surrounding CGT and viral vectors - tools used by molecular biologists to deliver genetic material into cells.
The business is projecting to increase its staff from 40 to 200 within five years and is looking to develop its translation consultancy and capital project teams. The latter, led by director Gavin Sutton, will design the new facility in-house.
Exmoor, which is based in the Future Space laboratory on the University of the West of England’s Frenchay campus, has developed a portfolio of clients across the UK and internationally in the past five years, completing more than 400 projects in 15 countries.
The business is hoping its expansion will help to provide additional manufacturing capacity in the global industry, particularly in the viral vector area.
Angela Osborne, founder and chief executive officer of Exmoor, said the deal gave the business a “strong foundation” for its future growth, not just in the UK and
Europe but further into other international markets, particularly North America.
“CGT is such an important area in biomedical research and one that has the ability to treat, prevent and potentially cure diseases that affect people all over the world,” she said.
“The Bristol area is a great place to build on our highly skilled and knowledgeable consultancy and process development teams, attracting talent from the excellent local universities in Bristol, Bath and Cardiff. We have been fortunate to be able to continue and expand our operations at the University of the West of England in the Future Space innovation centre operated by Oxford Innovation and we would like to thank them for their continued support.”
Exmoor has formed a new senior leadership team to oversee its expansion, with former chief executive of McLaren Applied Technologies, Ian Rhodes, joining the company as director of consulting and finance.
As part of the new deal, MVM will hold a significant minority stake in the company, with MVM partners Thomas Casdagli and Jack Tanaka joining the Exmoor board of directors and as board observer respectively.
Mr Casdagli said: “Exmoor is a pioneer in cell and gene therapy manufacturing and has one of the most experienced teams in all elements of translating CGT innovation into scalable and robust manufacturing processes. With this investment Exmoor now has the broadest and most flexible range of CGT services in the market.” duty tax relief at the end of March, which has now been extended to end of June, the Bank said.
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