Durham University spinout Magnitude Biosciences has raised £1.3m to scale its drug discovery platform and expand its work with pharmaceutical companies.
The life sciences company has developed VivoScan™, a high-throughput screening platform that uses C. elegans nematode worms to test potential drug candidates in a whole organism.
Magnitude combines the worms with imaging, machine learning, AI, automation and robotics to generate biological data on potential treatments.
The company said the technology can allow pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies to screen drug candidates more quickly and cheaply than conventional approaches, with an initial focus on ageing, longevity and neurodegenerative diseases.
Northstar Ventures led the £1.3m funding round, investing through the North East Spinout Inspire Fund, North East Innovation Fund and Northstar EIS Growth Fund.
Maven-managed regional funds also participated, including NPIF II – Maven Equity Finance and the Finance Durham Fund, alongside new angel investors.
The investment will also enable Magnitude Biosciences to access a £217,000 Innovate UK Investor Partnership grant.
Magnitude plans to use the capital to expand VivoScan, increase its commercial activity with global pharmaceutical companies, invest in equipment and automation and recruit additional staff.
The company ultimately wants VivoScan to be capable of screening millions of compounds using whole-organism models.
Dr Fozia Saleem, CEO of Magnitude Biosciences, said: “Our ambition is to become the first company to provide a platform to screen millions of compounds in a whole organism.
“This investment in VivoScan™ gives us the opportunity to turn that ambition into reality and fundamentally change the scale and speed at which drug discovery can be done.
“We are building a platform that can move beyond simply screening more compounds. VivoScan™ generates rich, whole-organism biological data that can help researchers understand how potential therapies affect health, ageing and disease.”
The investment comes amid efforts across the pharmaceutical industry to find alternatives to traditional mammalian testing and reduce the time and cost involved in identifying viable drug candidates.
Magnitude Biosciences was spun out of Durham University and operates as a contract research organisation, providing drug discovery services to pharmaceutical and biotechnology businesses.
The £22.5m North East Spinout Inspire Fund, which participated in the round, is backed by Durham, Newcastle, Northumbria, Sunderland and Teesside universities and the North East Mayoral Strategic Authority. It was established to invest in companies commercialising research originating from the region’s universities.
Dr Will Cousins, investment manager at Northstar Ventures, said: “Having worked closely with Magnitude Biosciences throughout its journey, we have seen first-hand the strength of the team, the technology and the opportunity ahead.
“We are proud to continue backing a business that is helping to shape the future of drug discovery.”
Sarah Newbould, senior investment manager at the British Business Bank, added: “We’re continuing to back the businesses that are driving innovation across the UK economy, with this new funding round helping to bring Magnitude Biosciences’ new technology to market.”