American-British Cooperation to Establish New Drug Discovery Company

An American biotechnology venture capital company is providing initial funding for the establishment of a drug development firm that will operate in the framework of a prestigious British research institution.

The venture capital company Research Corporation Technologies (Tucson, AZ, USA) is providing Series A funding that will enable researchers from King’s College London (United Kingdom) to form the new drug development company Femtogenix (London, United Kingdom).

The focus of the company is to discover and develop next generation DNA-interactive payload molecules for use in antibody-drug conjugates. The payload molecules are designed through a development platform combining proprietary computational chemistry techniques, and founder know-how gained from more than 50 years of experience in DNA-targeted drug discovery and development.

Femtogenix’s drug discovery platform allows the company to design molecules capable of binding reversibly and/or irreversibly to DNA, in a sequence-interactive manner, leading to exquisite cytotoxicity toward tumor cells. When attached to antibodies or other targeting moieties, these potent cytotoxic agents can be delivered directly to tumors with minimal general systemic toxicities for patients. The company’s management and scientific teams consist of highly experienced scientists with the expertise to translate the novel platform into tangible results for cancer patients.

Dr. David Thurston, professor of drug discovery at Kings College London, said, “Femtogenix Ltd. is an exciting opportunity to achieve a practical outcome for our research, which, hopefully, should benefit cancer patients in the coming years. We are grateful to the staff of the King’s Intellectual Property & Licensing Office for their vision in helping to found Femtogenix, and to Research Corporation Technologies for sharing that vision and providing the substantial funding and other support needed to establish the Company.”

Dr. Chris Keightley, CEO of Femtogenix, said, “We plan to expand and develop our platform of novel payload molecules and make these available to biopharma companies through partnering and licensing arrangements.”

Related Links:
Research Corporation Technologies 
King’s College London
Femtogenix