PolyTherics, a biopharmaceutical spin-out company from Imperial College London and the London School of Pharmacy, has been awarded £350,000 from the Technology Strategy Board.

PolyTherics, a biopharmaceutical spin-out company from Imperial College London and the London School of Pharmacy, has been awarded £350,000 from the Technology Strategy Board.

The award, one of the first since the Technology Strategy Board assumed responsibility for the Government’s collaborative research and development programme, will enable PolyTherics to work with Avecia, a contract development organisation and manufacturer of biopharmaceuticals.

The companies will collaborate on a two-year project worth over £800,000. They plan to develop new systems for the production of antibodies that could lead to widespread availability of effective, low-cost drugs for diseases such as cancer, rheumatoid arthritis and irritable bowel syndrome.

David Way, operations director at the Technology Strategy Board, says that the funding brought together two innovative pharmaceutical companies for ‘this important project’.