Drug screening company secures angel investment
Retrogenix was founded by Dr Jim Freeth and Jo Soden, who completed the deal after taking part inthe Access to Finance for Healthcare Technology Companies programme run by Grant Thornton.
The company has developed technology which enables drugs to be tested against the full range of human proteins. This is something which will help pharmaceutical companies understand potential side effects of drugs earlier in their development, reducing the chance of failure and speeding up their route to recovery.
The technology has been proven in small scale laboratory experiments and the investment will allow Jim and Jo to work on scaling it up to make it suitable for the pharmaceutical market whilst at the same time determining the greatest needs in the sector.
"We're undertaking some in-depth market research in tandem with the development work, to understand where pharmaceutical companies feel our technology could be best applied," explains Dr Freeth.
The finance has come from three investors, Neil Ewin, Mark Woodward and nick Stringer. YABA members Neil and Mark first met Retrogenix at Venturefest earlier this year, and are to take an active role in the company.
"The market research will provide the foundations for a robust sales and marketing plan and will inform the way in which we drive the business," says Mark. "This is a great business opportunity and we believe that it has huge potential."
Dr Freeth agrees. "It's great for us to have investors that want to be involved so closeley," he says. "They have a great track record, and have valuable skills and experience that will help us enormously in developming our company and our core technology."
