Apollo Therapeutics Fund, launched today, is new addition to innovatio
Stevenage, UK, January 25 2016 – Stevenage Bioscience Catalyst (SBC), the open innovation campus driving collaboration to improve healthcare, starts 2016 having reached the important milestone of 50 tenants.The most recent of these is the Apollo Therapeutics Fund, launched today1, which will be based on the campus.
Already recognised as one of the UK lifesciences sector’s most compelling locations for scientific excellence andc ompany growth, 2016 is an important year for SBC as it continues to expand and plan for Phase 2 of its development.
Other new laboratory-based tenants include Cyclogenix (plant microprotein scaffolds for discovery of therapeutic proteins and delivery agents), Nuclera Nucleics (next generation synthesis of long DNA) andTusk Therapeutics (immune modulators based on NK cell biology). Investment into SBC tenants now stands at over £100m.
Key activities to take place during the year include completion of fit-out in the Accelerator building, ready for the arrival of MRCTechnology (MRCT) and other tenants. In addition, the Cell Therapy Catapult’s £55m cell and gene therapy manufacturing centre, construction of which was initiated at the end of last year, will continue to take shape ready for opening in 2017. The Apollo Therapeutics Fund’s Drug Discovery Team will also become established at SBC during 2016.
Martino Picardo, CEO of Stevenage Bioscience Catalyst, said, ‘We are delighted to start 2016, our fifth year of operation, with 50 diverse and high quality tenants. Newly launched Apollo Therapeutics Fund, which is fully aligned with our focus on translation and collaboration, is another welcome addition to the campus, and we look forward to working with it. These and other developments mean that SBC will continue to generate economic growth, drive company scale-up and catalyse advances in healthcare in the future.’
–ENDS–
1 Consortium of world-leading UK universities and global pharmaceutical companies launch £40 million fund to drive therapeutic innovation <http://www.apollotherapeutics.com>
For more information, please contact:
Stevenage Bioscience Catalyst
Martino Picardo, CEO
+44 (0)1438 906906
Emma Palmer Foster, Strategic CommunicationsConsultant
+44(0)7880787185 comms@stevenagecatalyst.com
Notes for Editors
About Stevenage Bioscience Catalyst
Stevenage Bioscience Catalyst (SBC) opened as the UK’sfirst open innovation biomedical campus in 2012, and combines a unique blend ofinfrastructure and virtual networks to drive collaboration. Backed by a novelpartnership between Government, GlaxoSmithKline and the Wellcome Trust, theremit was, and remains, to catalyse innovation for patient benefit in a phaseddevelopment. SBC has a strong commitment to companies that focus on highquality science and share its vision, and its development of activity clustersand direct access to the expertise of a major pharmaceutical company are amongits unique characteristics. There is start-up and grow-on space for companies,plus a commercially focused management team viewed as a leader in UKincubation. With Phase 1 at capacity, Phase 2 is in development for thecontinuation of the collaborative vision, with a focus on convergent medicaltechnologies. Co-located with GlaxoSmithKline in Stevenage, StevenageBioscience Catalyst is located close to both London and Cambridge. For moreinformation, please go to www.stevenagecatalyst.com<>. Follow us on twitter @SteBioCat
About Stevenage Bioscience Catalyst’s stakeholders
Stevenage Bioscience Catalyst’s stakeholders are GlaxoSmithKline (www.gsk.com), the Wellcome Trust, the Department for Business, Innovation and Skils and Innovate UK (formerly the Technology Strategy Board).
