A new research agreement involving an Aberdeen biopharmaceutical company aims to accelerate the development of new therapeutics, underlining the strengths within North East Scotland’s life sciences cluster.
Elasmogen Ltd, a University of Aberdeen spin-out focused on the development of next generation biologics, and Feldan Therapeutics, focused on intracellular delivery of proteins, today (May 9 2017) announced a research collaboration with Amgen, to develop and deliver novel intracellular biologics. The collaboration combines the unique capabilities of Feldan’s Shuttle platform and Elasmogen’s soloMER™ technology to develop the delivery system and binding domains to two undisclosed intracellular targets for Amgen, one of the world's leading independent biotechnology companies.
The life sciences sector is an important part of North-east Scotland’s economy with more than 2,500 people employed within its companies and research base making an annual contribution of £160m GVA. The region accounts for more than one fifth of employment in Scottish life sciences research and development and Aberdeen has one of the highest concentrations of life scientists in the UK outside of Cambridge. The city’s Foresterhill health campus is Europe’s largest integrated medical, research and teaching location and provides a collaborative environment for clinical, commercial and academic researchers.
Prof Stephen Logan, chair of ONE’s Life Sciences Board, said: “We have a strong and globally recognised life sciences sector in the region, which ONE has significant ambitions to build. Companies based in Aberdeen have attracted in excess of £280m of investment in recent years while the academic research base has secured a further £250m. More than 114 life sciences patents have been filed in the region in the past five years.
“Aberdeen has a history of high quality spin out companies and Elasmogen is a good example of what can be achieved. Its new research agreement serves to highlight the potential to build life sciences businesses in the region to capitalise on the links that exist between clinical, commercial and academic researchers in Aberdeen,” said Prof Logan.