Oxford Genetics gets further £1 million investment boost
pharmafile | October 27, 2016 | News story | Business Services, Manufacturing and Production, Medical Communications, Research and Development, Sales and Marketing | Mercia Technologies, Oxford Genetics, synthetic biology
Warwickshire-based biotech Mercia Technologies has injected a further £1 million into synthetic biology- specialist Oxford Genetics, bringing their total investment to £2.2 million; the company now owns 47.2% of the business.
Mercia first invested in 2013. Since then, Oxford Genetics has recently relocated to new facilities at Oxford Science Park and expanded its executive board, electing Dr David Hames, Dr Matt Baker and Dr Paul Brookes as chairman, non-executive director and commercial director, respectively.
The latest investment will enable Oxford Genetics to continue to license its proprietary technology SnapFast, a tool which optimises DNA assembly to make the process “significantly more efficient” for research and production purposes in cell and gene therapy.
“We are delighted to receive this continued support from Mercia, which follows a period of sustained growth for Oxford Genetics,” remarked chief executive Ryan Cawood. “The company has expanded significantly in the last year, and is now looking to reinforce its position as an important player in DNA design, protein expression and virus & cell line engineering.”
Dr Mark Payton, chief executive of Mercia Technologies, added: “Synthetic biology is a key sub-sector for Mercia and we are pleased to be able to make a further investment in Oxford Genetics as it moves into a pivotal stage of its DNA design development.
“We are confident that with our support Oxford Genetics will continue to scale becoming what we believe will be a global provider of synthetic biology solutions, in what is a very attractive and growing market.”
Matt Fellows
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