Biotech expected to announce £5m Northern Gritstone funding
Crucible Therapeutics, a biotech spun out from the University of Sheffield, is expected to announce this week that it has secured £5m in funding from Northern Gritstone and Paris-based investor Argobio.
The funding will enable the firm to take its therapies for neurological disease to clinical trials. The firm is working on treatments for common forms of motor neurone disease and frontotemporal dementia.
Crucible, based out of Sheffield’s Innovation Centre, was formed in January. Sky News quoted co-founder Dame Pamela Shaw, professor of neurology at the University of Sheffield, as saying, “Our novel therapeutic approach has made significant strides in our pursuit of transforming how these devastating diseases are treated and with the potential to achieve meaningful therapeutic impact.
“Today marks an important milestone, which brings us closer to supplying transformative treatments to people with neurological diseases like ALS [also known as motor neuron disease] and FTD.
“The significant experience and support that Northern Gritstone and Argobio Studio bring to Crucible further enables our pre-clinical development, and in parallel, allows us to strategically build our… team.”
Northern Gritstone was established with the assistance of the Universities of Manchester, Leeds and Sheffield with the dual purpose of supporting the commercialisation of science and IP-rich businesses originating from these institutions alongside funding the development of similar businesses based across the North of England.
