Synpromics Awarded £1.9m Grant from Scottish Enterprise

EDINBURGH, UK - May 3, 2018 - Sciad Newswire / Synpromics Ltd, the leader in gene control, today announced it has been awarded a £1.9m research and development grant from Scottish Enterprise. The funds will expand Synpromics’ world leading R&D programmes in gene regulation for cell and gene medicines. 

This grant is part of Synpromics’ ambitious £5.4m R&D project which initially creates 11 new high-skilled jobs. Synpromics will use the grant to expand and further develop its PromPT technology platform and to create novel inducible promoter systems that can be applied across the biotechnology sector. The funding will support pre-clinical evaluation studies in a range of disease models, allowing the company to identify the best use of its technology for the treatment of disease using advanced therapeutic regimes such as cell and gene medicine.

Advances in the field of cell and gene medicine have already resulted in revolutionary new therapies for leukaemia and certain types of blindness, with the promise of durable, one-time, curative treatments for a range of diseases. Synpromics’ proprietary technology provides the control mechanism for cell and gene medicines, enabling safe and efficient delivery of therapies to the target cell or tissue. The technology is currently being evaluated in over 25 product development pipelines in pharmaceutical, biopharmaceutical and biotechnology companies worldwide, targeting diseases such as Parkinson’s, haemophilia, muscular dystrophies and liver disorders. 

Commenting on the grant, Dr Michael Roberts, CSO of Synpromics, said, “We are developing technologies that facilitate the control of cell and gene therapies to be specific to cell and tissue types and responsive to either small molecules, biological environment or other stimuli. With this technology, we enable the development of novel medicines for a range of devastating diseases where the current treatment options are limited or non-existent. This award will help fund Synpromics’ state-of-the-art research and build on the success of gene control technology programmes to date, focused on designing innovative cell and gene therapies for unmet medical needs.”

Rhona Allison, Interim Managing Director at Scottish Enterprise, said: “Synpromics’ work has the potential to transform the lives of millions of people across the globe, and this latest project is a fantastic example of the company’s cutting-edge research in the critical field of revolutionary new gene therapies. Innovation and innovative research is key to driving Scotland’s economic growth. Our R&D support not only recognises this project’s importance to Synpromics but also to the Scottish economy and Scotland’s growing global reputation as a hub for life science excellence.”

Synpromics has experienced rapid and sustained growth over the last three years and recently moved into the Roslin Innovation Centre, adjacent to the Roslin Institute, near Edinburgh. Within this world class facility, Synpromics has brought together an outstanding team, spanning multiple disciplines to create the largest commercial team in the world focused on synthetic gene regulation. Synpromics is committed to creating a diverse and engaged team to drive innovation and sustainable global business growth, and has recently become the 475th company to join the Scottish Business Pledge. This grant will help to facilitate further growth and research.

Ends

For further information, contact:

Corporate Contact:
Dr Michael L Roberts, CSO and Founder Synpromics
T: +44 (0)131 651 9662
E: Michael.roberts@synpromics.com

PR Contact:
Deborah Cockerill / Juliette Craggs
Sciad Communications Ltd
T: +44 (0)20 7470 8801

E: synpromics@sciad.com 

Notes to Editors

About Synpromics 
Synpromics is the leader in gene control, improving human health by enabling safer, more effective cell and gene medicines through proprietary genomics, bioinformatics and intelligent data-driven design. The company has developed PromPT®, its multi-dimensional bioinformatics database that enables product-specific promoter design and selection empowering the next generation of cell and gene based medicines and bioprocessing applications. The company operates in a diverse range of fields, including broad applications in cell and gene based medicine, biologics manufacturing and viral vector bioprocessing. Current partners include Audentes, Biomarin, uniQure, AGTC, Solid Biosciences, Homology Medicines Inc, Adverum, GE Healthcare and Sartorius-Stedim Cellca, as well as numerous undisclosed partners in the pharmaceutical sector. 

About Synthetic Promoters 
Promoters are the natural switches that control the expression of genes into proteins, and are responsible for decoding the genome. Naturally occurring promoters have evolved for biological functions but have limitations when utilised in industrial or therapeutic applications. Synthetic promoters with DNA sequences not found in nature are designed to better regulate gene activity and precisely control protein production. Synpromics creates highly specific promoters designed to drive gene expression at the desired level and specificity in any cell type, tissue or environmental condition. Each synthetic promoter represents a novel invention and thus can be patented. For more information visit www.synpromics.com