Stevenage Bioscience Catalyst

SBC were delighted to take part in ATI 2024, held at GSK’s Stevenage Campus 

Over 200 from the advanced therapies industry gathered across a series of seminars, panels and fireside chats to examine challenges and opportunities related to topics such as funding, skills and commercialisation.

SBC’s Business Development and Entrepreneurship Director Marco Delise joined the panel ‘Hub-ble Bubble’ to discuss the importance of innovation hubs and the advantages of SBC being exclusively focused on medical R&D:

He discussed SBC’s threefold approach to supporting the ecosystem with:

  • Facilities – free shared equipment is available for all start-ups to use including specialist flow cytometry, with training provided

  • Community – a collaborative environment with over 30 annual networking events including CEO roundtables to share expertise and contacts

  • Open innovation – connecting the external ecosystem with the campus community, such as investor workshops, to help develop business skills

SBC has had four cell and gene therapy exits in the past seven years (3 IPOS and 1 M&A) including Autolus, whose CAR T cell therapy for Leukemia patients recently obtained FDA approval for use in the USA.

SBC occupiers also joined a wide range of panels:

MFX’s Antoine Espinet and Achillies on the session ‘A Digital Revolution & A Person-Centric Approach’ and how the UK is embracing new opportunities to make ATMPs faster and more efficiently, considering quality control and sustainability

Cell and Gene Therapy Catapult’s Ian Parnham, Skills Lead,  joined MFX’s James Kusena, VP Operations, Complement Therapetics’ Mustafa Munye, Founding Member, Cytiva’s Dharmesh Vara, VAS Leader, and LifeArc’s Anji Miller, Academic Engagement Leader, for the panel on ‘It’s an upskill battle’ to discuss the importance of constantly evolving skills and how industry and government can work together to ensure the UK has the skilled workforce needed for the growth of the ATMP sector.

  • James explained how start-ups can still offer internships and other student placements because the government offer schemes that fund up to 90% of the costs.
  • Mustafa described how Complement Therapeutics offer six-month feasible projects which can lead to excellent hires. He said these can be filled by students from bachelor and master’s degree level upwards, helping build industrial and wet lab skills, which often aren’t taught via academic pathways.

Funding Battles

A thought-provoking discussion around diversity of investor recipients unfurled in the panel Funding Battles, when Jeanette Evans, Chief Business Officer at Cell and Gene Therapy Catapult, disclosed the statistic that less than 10% of investment goes to female founders.

Abigail Martin, CEO and Founder of ImmuOne, stressed the importance of a ‘need to see more nurturing of women in science early on. More women are co-founding businesses and getting backing from VCs. The seed is sewn early, and women must see an area available for exploitation for them at all levels including C suite.’