Alderley Park diagnostics pioneer secures £3.9 million investment

Alderley Park based diagnostics company, Kinomica, has secured a £3.9 million investment to fund its pioneering technology.

The investment will add to existing agreements for the firm with major pharmaceutical and healthcare sector companies such as AstraZeneca. Kinomica’s KScan™ biomarker and molecular diagnostics platform has been designed to aid in development of kinase inhibitor drugs for treating cancer and other conditions.

BGF and Longwall Ventures have each invested £1.5 million, with an additional £900,000 raised by the diagnostics firm’s seed investors, BioCity, Alderley Park Ventures and Puffin Point. The monies raised will allow Kinomica to rapidly scale up its operations, including investing in facilities and equipment, in order to deliver a pipeline of ongoing and upcoming projects. The firm now plans to recruit an additional 11 staff, and two consultants by June 2021.

Jane Theaker, CEO at Kinomica, said of the investment: 

This marks a huge step forward for Kinomica and for KScan™, as we look to the future of cancer treatment. Our pioneering technology offers much-needed support for the development of new precision medicines and represents a new approach to drug trials and treatments that will have a huge impact on patients’ lives. We are enormously grateful to our investors for their support as we look to a new era of research and development in the battle against cancer and other disease areas where an understanding of cell signalling is important.”

Rhys Davenport of BGF’s North West team, said:

Kinomica is a phenomenal example of early-stage life sciences innovation based in the North West. The business’ technology has the potential to provide insights to its pharma customer-base which help to identify drug targets, personalise treatments and develop diagnostics, that will transform patient outcomes. Led by CEO Jane Theaker, the business is at a stage in its journey where this injection of capital could unlock significant growth.”