Business Weekly - Cambridge, UK

According to joint founder and CEO, Tim Sharpington, Serentis has managed to close one of the largest Series A funding rounds in European biotech over the past year (£10.3m) “partly as a result of its management team, partly the business model.”

The investment was jointly led by Life Science venture funds, MVM Life Science Partners, Apposite Capital and Novo.
The factors that Sharpington highlights look set to shape the region’s biotech cluster going forward, as a clear demonstration that an intelligent response to market conditions will still attract the smart money.

Firstly, Serentis has fine-tuned the low-cost model that an increasing number of biotech companies are employing to reduce cash-burn. But not only is it ‘virtualising’ operations by outsourcing much of the scientific leg-work, it is also pioneering the concept of ‘low-risk.’

As internal discovery programmes are based on existing drugs or their templates it will often be possible, according to Sharpington, to move rapidly to proof of principle studies.

This, he says, will deliver proprietary products which have a lower risk profile than traditional NCE discovery programmes.
Areas of therapeutic focus for internal research programmes include wound healing, diabetic complications, fibrotic disorders and cancer adjunctive therapy.

The Cambridge cluster has long relied on the willingness of seasoned biotech entrepreneurs to ‘recycle’ their experience by getting involved in new ventures when the opportunity presents itself.

In Serentis’ case that opportunity presented itself when Japanese pharma company Sosei acquired their former employers, Arakis for £106.5m in 2005.

With the wave of M&A activity that over the past two years has seen a raft of biotechs acquired by Big Pharma, it is understood that many other talented entrepreneurs and scientists could be hatching similarly innovative enterprises.

Sharpington said: “What we bring to the table is quite an evolved model and an ability to answer the key questions in the clinical development process very quickly and therefore cheaply.

“One of the key features of the founding team is that we grew up in Big Pharma before moving down into smaller companies.”
This nous allows the company to complement its in-house development with a sharp eye for a good in-licensing prospect – another key string to its bow.

Dr Martin Murphy, partner at MVM Life Science and chairman of Serentis commented: “The management team at Serentis have an impressive track record of innovating and developing low-risk development compounds which can be rapidly progressed to proof-of-principle studies.

“We are pleased to be able to support the company in order to allow expansion of the management team and progression of the lead compounds.”

Dr Allan Marchington, partner at Apposite Capital, said: “We are excited to be making this investment in Serentis.
“The additional financial resources will enable the company to expand its in-licensing capabilities and provide best-in-class development for in-licensed compounds for the benefit of both Serentis and the originating companies.
“We are extremely pleased with the progress the company’s management team has made during the short time since the company’s formation. The company now has the financial resources to build on this success.”