7th July 2010
Aquapharm and AMRI enter into a novel marine chemistry collaboration
Aquapharm Biodiscovery, a leading marine biotechnology company, announced today it has signed a research agreement with Albany Molecular Research (NASDAQ: AMRI) to identify novel drug-like compounds and scaffolds with anti-microbial and anti-inflammatory activity from Aquapharm’s marine natural products library derived from its extensive collection of marine micro-organisms.
Under the terms of this agreement, drawing on its substantial experience and expertise from previous screening campaigns with its terrestrial natural products library, AMRI will screen Aquapharm’s library against Gram-negative and Gram-positive bacteria and an undisclosed anti-inflammatory target and will isolate and elucidate the structures of novel hits. Aquapharm retains all rights to compounds resulting from the collaboration.
The collaboration represents a major step-forward for Aquapharm in realising the potential of its unique marine assets and expertise in the Pharmaceutical sector. This builds on its established deals with Croda to develop novel bio-active ingredients for the Personal Care industry and Dr Reddy’s to develop bio-catalysts, thus maximising the exploitation of the marine collection in producing a broad and diverse chemical library.
On signing of the agreement, Aquapharm CEO Simon Best said “We are confident that this collaboration will exploit the novelty, diversity and drug-like characteristics of the compounds which we know from pilot studies are abundantly produced by marine micro-organisms. These represent a virtually untapped source of compounds and scaffolds with many attractive characteristics to form the basis of numerous drug-discovery partnerships.”
“We have a wealth of experience accumulated from developing and mining our own extensive terrestrial natural product library, and we are pleased to apply this experience to Aquapharm’s marine derived library. It’s a new and exciting opportunity” said AMRI Vice President, Discovery Research and Development Bruce Sargent, Ph.D.
Initial results from this research agreement are expected during 2011. AMRI has broad screening capabilities and moreover particular expertise in seeking antibacterial natural products, having successfully completed its own internal screen of its collections yielding multiple lead compounds effective against MRSA and E.Coli organisms.
28th June 2010
Aquapharm appoints new Chief Scientific Officer
Aquapharm Biodiscovery, a leading marine biotechnology company, announced today the appointment of Dr Tim Morley as Chief Scientific Officer (CSO). Dr Morley’s appointment follows an investment of £4.2 million from existing investors and the appointments of biotech entrepreneur Simon Best as CEO and Aquapharm’s founder Dr Andrew Mearns-Spragg as CTO in March 2010.
In his new role at Aquapharm, Dr Morley will be responsible for leading Aquapharm’s in-house R&D programmes which address both pharmaceutical and non-pharma functional ingredient opportunities for the personal care and nutrition industries. Dr Morley has over 20 years experience in the pharmaceutical industry, which will prove invaluable as the company develops novel marine derived drug candidates. Dr Morley gained his PhD in Mechanistic Toxicology at Aberdeen University and holds an MSc in Biopharmacy, BSc in Pharmacology and BSc in Biochemistry.
Commenting on his appointment, Dr Morley said, “I am looking forward to working with Aquapharm’s excellent team of scientists on the novel chemical structures and scaffolds in the company’s unique collection. I am excited at the prospect of developing these as novel health and personal care products, and being able to work closely with the Aquapharm team, and the Company’s existing and future partners.”
Aquapharm’s CEO Simon Best remarked on the appointment, “Tim’s product development expertise is essential to grow the value of the business over the coming years. He is a very welcome addition to the team.”
Dr Morley’s previous positions include Research and Strategic Project Director at Quotient Biodiagnostics, Vice President Preclinical Sciences at Ardana Bioscience and Senior Director Molecular & Cellular Pharmacology at Vernalis R&D Ltd. Dr Morley has directed the development of compounds for the treatment of prostate cancer, growth hormone deficiency, obesity, and Parkinsons disease from discovery to clinical trials. Vernalis’ Parkinsons product V2006 is currently in Phase II clinical trials and was successfully partnered with Biogen-Idec in 2004.
23rd March 2010
Aquapharm®completes £4.2 million investment and
appoints Dr Simon Best OBE FRSE as new CEO
Current CEO and founder, Andrew Mearns Spragg, to take position as CTO
Aquapharm Biodiscovery, a leading marine biotechnology company, today announces the close of a £4.2 million investment from existing investors Aescap Venture, Tate & Lyle Ventures, Highlands and Islands Enterprise and NESTA. Alongside the completion of the financing, Aquapharm has appointed the seasoned biotech entrepreneur Simon Best as CEO. Current CEO and founder Andrew Mearns Spragg will take up the role of Chief Technical Officer.
The additional finance will be used towards the further development and commercialisation of Aquapharm's product portfolio produced from over 7,250 marine micro-organisms. Natural products from this unique source of new biological and chemical diversity are already being exploited commercially with major partners such as Croda Plc and Dr Reddy's Laboratories in the personal care and pharmaceutical fields respectively. New collaborations in further applications such as nutrition are also in the pipeline.
Over the next year, Aquapharm will also use the new funding to build a large marine derived compound library containing small molecule and peptide compounds with the size and structural characteristics of potential new drugs. Upon its completion, the compound library will accelerate Aquapharm’s drug discovery efforts, principally in the anti-microbial field. The Company will also build on existing interest from major Pharmaceutical and Biotechnology companies to enter into discovery and development alliances against other disease targets.
Simon, formerly CEO of Roslin BioMed and later Chairman of Ardana Plc and the UK BioIndustry Association, has joined Aquapharm at this critical juncture and brings extensive experience to the Company, including demonstrable success in taking biotech companies through raising finance, deal formation and product commercialisation all the way to exit. Simon is a visiting Professor at the University of Edinburgh and remains the Chair of the BioQuarter Commercialisation Board.
Andrew Mearns Spragg, who is moving from the role of CEO to become CTO said: “I would like to welcome Simon to Aquapharm, a company for which I have endless passion, having founded and developed it over the past 10 years.” Andrew’s role as CTO will be to focus on the strategic development and exploitation of the science and technologies within Aquapharm, to ensure that maximum value is extracted from the platform.
Simon Best added: “I am excited to step into a Scottish business that I see having immense commercial potential, and would like to acknowledge Andrew’s achievements since he founded Aquapharm. Recent highlights include completing today’s new financing, the deal with Croda Plc, and the appointment of a high-calibre management team. I look forward to working with Andrew and this team on leveraging Aquapharm's unique assets into high-value consumer, industrial and healthcare products. I relish another opportunity to demonstrate that the UK's enormous strengths in R/D can be successfully translated into superior financial returns for investors”