Alchemy’s £400,000 funding not to be sniffed at
A DARESBURY-based company which has developed an intranasal drug delivery system has landed a £400,000 investment from the North West Fund.
Alchemy Pharmatech (APT), which relocated to Daresbury Science and Innovation Park in April 2012, has developed a unique nasal delivery device for a range of pharmaceutical products including DNA vaccines, hormone replacement compounds and pain control products.
Drug delivery by the nasal route has several advantages for the patient as it is non-invasive, removing any associated needle pain or anxiety, and it gives the patient control of their treatment.
For the pharma firms, it also helps to improve patient compliance, making treatment more effective and medical staff are are not needed to administer the medication so it reduces administration costs.
The investment has been made via the £25m North West Fund for Biomedical, run by Spark Impact.
APT will use the money to complete the development of a new nasal device for a specific compound and to grow its management team, which will include the appointment of a full-time CEO.
The company’s founder and chief technology officer, Ian Harrison, said: “I would like to thank the team at SPARK Impact for its ongoing belief and support in the technology.
This round of investment will allow us to complete work on the device so it can then go on to be used in a human drug trial, which is another important step closer in bringing the product to market.
“We’ve already seen the use of dry powder formulations, instead of liquid, embraced heavily by vaccine companies which struggle to supply product to developing nations because of the lack of refrigeration access.”
Dr Penny Attridge, senior investment director at SPARK Impact, said: “Ian and Bruce from Alchemy Pharmatech have worked extremely hard to get to this point and it’s a real privilege to be able to invest in this cutting-edge technology. We look forward to seeing the results of the trial and hope to see APT go from strength to strength.”
