Aquapharm Secures Funding Worth Pounds-1.5m Investment Allows Marine Bio-Prospector to Increase R&D
Posted on: Thursday, 11 August 2005, 09:01 CDT
AQUAPHARM Bio-Discovery, a leading Scottish marine biotechnology company, said yesterday it has completed a financing package worth pounds-1.5m and plans to move into the new European Centre for Marine Biotechnology in Oban.
Aquapharm said E-Synergy, a syndicate that provides a combination of early-stage finance, management support and training, and the Scottish Enterprise Co-Investment Fund have invested pounds- 344,000, adding to a recent earlier investment of pounds-350,000 by NESTA - the National Endowment for Science, Technology and the Arts - and Argyll and the Islands Enterprise.
The biotech company also said it is eligible for equity investment of pounds-253,400 and grants of up to pounds-300,000 from AIE.
Aquapharm was formed in 2000 by Dr Andrew Mearns Spragg and Dr Kathryn Fraser, and is one of the first UKmarine biotechnology companies.
Aquapharm collects samples of bacteria and fungi from the marine environment to build a microbial library and a natural products library.
The library could contain previously unknown compounds that may provide cures for diseases or answers to manufacturing problems in the drug industry. Using this library, Aquapharm looks for new antibiotics to fight drugresistant organisms like MRSA, which is found in hospitals.
Spragg, the chief executive officer of Aquapharm, said:
"Completing this investment will allow the company to increase its research programmes, including expansion of the project screening of novel marine organisms for new antibiotics.
"Already, a new anti-infective molecule has been identified that targets multi-drug resistant infections such as MRSA.
There is a definite need for new types of antibiotics to combat bacterial infections that have become resistant to most of our available antibiotics."
The funding package has allowed Aquapharm to expand into new laboratory facilities within the European Centre for Marine Biotechnology, which is situated beside the sea near Oban in Argyll.
The centre, which was set up with assistance from the European Union, promotes the development of companies seeking to commercialise marine biotechnology.
Aquapharm currently employs nine full-time staff and has recently strengthened its management team with the addition of some new nonexecutive directors.
They are Dr Jo Oliver, who previously worked at the Scottish Association for Marine Science, a research body, Colin Garvie, who has extensive financial and commercial experience, and Dr John White, a member of E-Synergy's syndicate.
White said: "We are happy to have made this investment. The work Aquapharm is doing is exciting and we believe, in time, we will make a good return."
Source: Herald, The; Glasgow (UK)
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