Novartis and J&J back UK biotech working on 30-minute STD test

Print 30 January 2015
Andrew Ward / Financial Times

Novartis and Johnson & Johnson have stepped up investment in a UK molecular diagnostics company developing a 30-minute test for sexually transmitted diseases.

The healthcare groups’ venture capital arms were among the backers of a $20m fundraising announced on Thursday by Atlas Genetics, a company based on technology developed at Bath university.

Atlas is planning to launch its first test for chlamydia this year, aiming to improve poor detection rates of a widely prevalent infection that can cause serious health problems.

Whereas existing tests require a sample to be sent to a laboratory for analysis with results returned days later, Atlas has developed a system that can produce a diagnosis while the patient waits.

The technology could in future be expanded to other infectious diseases but John Clarkson, Atlas chief executive, said the immediate need was for a quick way to conduct the 50m tests carried out in the US and Europe each year for chlamydia and gonorrhoea.

“You’re often dealing with teenagers who may be reluctant to interact with healthcare professionals,” he said. “Knowing this, doctors sometimes make a guess and end up prescribing antibiotics that might not be needed.”

The successful financing — and the presence of two of the world’s biggest healthcare groups among the backers — will add to optimism over investor appetite for UK life science start-ups.

Venture capital financing for the sector increased by 41 per cent to $713m last year, compared with $503.9m in 2013, according to data compiled by London & Partners, the investment promotion body.

“Good ideas in medicine will get funded in the end but it’s always a challenge and there’s a particular problem with early stage finance,” said Dr Clarkson. “It gets easier the closer you are to market.”

Britain has long punched above its weight in life sciences, with three of the world’s top five universities for medical research — Oxford, Cambridge and Imperial College London — according to Times Higher Education.

But UK scientists have been less successful than their US counterparts at commercialising medical innovations.

Gregg Sando, a former investment banker who founded biotech company Cell Medica, said the situation was improving. “We are seeing a core group of investors and grant bodies starting to emerge who are willing to commit significant capital to enable these new discoveries to come to market,” he said.

Other groups involved in the series C financing were Consort Medical, a UK medical technology company, and three life science investment funds: RMI Partners, LSP and BB Biotech Ventures.

Dr Clarkson said the fresh money would be used to commercialise the first products and fund further clinical studies in the US.

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