THE £400M PROF
Academic set to cash in as his firm prepares to float
A SCOTTISH university professor is set for a £400million payday as the life sciences firm he created considers a possible stock market listing.
Exscientia is a world leader at using artificial intelligence (AI) to automate drug design, which dramatically cuts down the time and money spent in the development of drugs.
The Dundee-based company has completed a series of high-profile deals with global pharmaceutical firms in the past year and a public flotation will trigger substantial windfalls for senior management.
Its chief executive and founder, Professor Andrew Hopkins, formed the company as a breakaway from Dundee University in 2012. The former Pfizer executive, who holds a doctorate from Oxford University, owns the largest stake in the firm, with around 43 per cent of the shares, while other executives own a further 7 per cent. Dundee University owns around 10 per cent, which could see it reap up to £100million.
Exscientia could be worth more than £1billion if it floated, according to a report by equity analyst Ian Jermin of Allenby Capital.
Professor Hopkins, 47, who holds the Chair of Medicinal Informatics at Dundee, could become one of the world’s richest academics should the float go ahead. In a recent interview, he said there had been an ‘absolute sea-change in interest from the pharmaceutical industry, helped in part by the fact that there are now real-life examples of advances being made by artificial intelligence’.
He said it had ‘gone from being a promise of what AI can do to accepted mainstream that this will be the way drugs are discovered in future’. An industry source said yesterday: ‘It is important that people understand that as well as reaping the rewards of his hard work and expertise, Professor Hopkins is also creating wealth for other shareholders including the University of Dundee, which has around a 10 per cent stake in the company.
‘As well as a significant windfall for higher education, there will be benefits to the taxpayer and, not least, new and significant advances in medicine. Yes, it will be great if this work makes Andrew fabulously rich, but it should be remembered that there is also a huge potential value from Exscientia to the University of Dundee, to the Scottish economy and to the wider UK economy.
‘It is becoming one of the best, if not the best, drug discovery companies globally.’
No one from Exscientia was available to comment yesterday.