Oxford spins out EnzBond

UK-based biotech developer EnzBond spun out of Oxford University yesterday with £350,000 ($444,605) in seed funding from university venturing fund Oxford Sciences Innovation (OSI).

Oxford University Innovation (OUI), the institution’s tech transfer office, established the new company. OSI is a £320m vehicle backed by OUI and investors such as diversified conglomerate Alphabet’s investment unit GV, that is focused on companies emerging from Oxford University.

EnzBond was created to commercialise technology that allows pharmaceutical researchers to examine and analyse enzymes on a computer, so that the ones with the desired properties for drug development can be quickly identified. The approach, also called in silico, speeds up the discovery of enzymes by eliminating manual trial and error procedures.

When compared to rival enzyme discovery companies, EnzBond’s technology has been shown to be at least ten times faster and more accurate, the company claims. EnzBond is now in talks with unnamed pharmaceutical, agricultural, cosmetic and synthetic biology businesses interested in using its technology. 

Robert Simon, chief technology officer at EnzBond, said: “The potential to apply enzymes to current production methods not only opens up the potential of cleaner processes, but also potentially significant reductions in cost for critical compounds such as antivirals and antibiotics.” 

Lachlan Mackinnon, principal at Oxford Sciences Innovation, said: “We view this as an industry ripe for disruption and are excited to back founders with the right mix of skills to have an impact. In silico methods have yet to properly penetrate enzyme design and we are confident that EnzBond’s technology has the answers.”