Motherwell cancer-focused biopharmaceutical firm Amphista nets £6m boost

A Motherwell-based biopharmaceutical company creating “first-in-class” cancer therapeutics has announced the closing of a $7.5 million (£6m) Series A round.

The business said the financing gives it a 'firm foundation to underpin a Series B round' (file image). Picture: Jovanmandic.

Amphista Therapeutics said the round was led by Advent Life Sciences, and funded by the Scottish Investment Bank, with backing from the Scottish Growth Scheme. The European Investment Fund joined in, along with new investor US-based life sciences BioMotiv.

The life sciences firm says its therapeutics harness the body’s natural processes to “selectively and efficiently” degrade and remove disease-causing protein.

Chief executive Nicola Thompson said: “This international financing provides Amphista with a firm foundation to underpin a Series B round to progress our oncology pipeline to the clinic. Our vision is to create a leading protein degradation company on the global stage that delivers ground-breaking new medicines to patients in areas of high unmet need.”

Satish Jindal, chief executive of BioMotiv, and newly appointed Amphista chairman, said: “We are a mission-driven accelerator, and we are excited by Amphista’s focus to rapidly produce potent bifunctional small molecules to augment the body’s own processes to remove disease-associated proteins. We see huge potential to accelerate Amphista’s breakthrough technology platform into medicines.”

Raj Parekh, general partner at lead investor Advent Life Sciences, said Amphista has a “potentially unique” approach to targeted protein degradation related to comparable platforms. “We believe that Amphista has great potential with its differentiated proprietary technology to address traditionally undruggable targets.”

Amphista added that its scientific founder Alessio Ciulli, based at the University of Dundee, is an internationally renowned expert in the field of targeted protein degradation.

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