Funding programme reaps rewards

Retrogenix, a Sheffield-based drug-screening firm, has been awarded £150,000 of funding following successful completion of Yorkshire Forward’s Access to Finance for Healthcare Technology Companies programme.

The group, which has developed a specialist cell microarray technology to screen drugs against human proteins, said that it will use the investment to increase its services for pharmaceutical groups.

It is the first company to secure equity funding through the Access to Finance programme since its launch in February. The programme has been designed to give healthcare technology companies in Yorkshire the expertise, tools and resources needed to secure equity funding investors.

Dr Jim Freeth, former project leader at AstraZeneca, set up Retrogenix in October with partner Jo Soden to meet a need for large pharmaceutical companies to have a process that would help them better understand the causes of side effects in drugs.

According to company, the technology can also be used in drug re-profiling and testing of drugs that have already been launched on the market for their adaptability to treat other illnesses. The process has already received interest from a number of business angels at a Access to Finance programme event held in March.