Commercialisation firm Amorchem has launched Corbin Therapeutics, a spinout focused on treatments for inflammation-based diseases. The company is exploiting research conducted at McGill University and has received an initial C$1m ($750,000) in funding from Amorchem. The money will be used to identify lead candidates.
Cambridge Enterprise, the tech transfer office of Cambridge University, and the institution’s Cambridge Enterprise Fund, managed by Parkwalk Advisors, have injected £500,000 ($615,000) into Polypharmakos, a spinout of Cambridge and and the Royal Botanic Gardens. Polypharmakos hopes to fight the emerging global antimicrobial resistance, caused by the overuse of antibiotics, by screening natural-product sources of plant, fungal and insect origin for active substances. The company previously secured pilot project funding from Swansea University and its TTO Swansea Innovations for the development of seraticin, a maggot-derived antimicrobial.
Life sciences business Malin has purchased a 33% stake in Wren Therapeutics, a biopharmaceutical spinout of Cambridge University and Lund University, according to InsiderMedia. The corporate has an option to increase its stake to 67%. Financial terms of the deal have not been disclosed. Wren, founded in 2016, focuses on neurological disorders such as Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s, as well as other conditions such as type-two diabetes.
Auckland University has partnered accelerator Biomotiv to launch Sapvax, a spinout that will research cancer vaccines. The technology is based on research conducted by professors Margaret Brimble and Rod Dunbar, and Geoff Williams of Auckland University. Initial research was funded by the university’s Maurice Wilkins Centre of Research Excellence, while its Inventors’ Fund and New Zealand government-owned Pre-Seed Accelerator Fund supported the transitional and early pre-clinical research program.
