US firm gives life sciences a boost with £3m Dundee move

SCOTLAND'S fledgling life sciences industry received a fresh shot in the arm yesterday when an American biotech firm chose Dundee as its first base outside the United States.

Stemgent will pump 3 million into Ubiquigent – its new Dundee-based subsidiary – over the next three years.

The new company has been set up to sell biological products and services developed at Dundee University's Scottish Institute for Cell Signalling (Scills).

The 10m institute was launched in 2008 to study "protein ubiquitylation", a control mechanism that regulates almost all aspects of the life of a cell.

Abnormalities in the process are a cause of cancer as well as chronic inflammatory and auto-immune diseases.

Scientists believe protein ubiquitylation has "great potential" for the development of drugs to treat cancer and chronic inflammatory diseases, such as rheumatoid arthritis.

Sir Philip Cohen, one of the programme leaders, said: "The initial aim of Scills has been to build up a critical mass of leading scientists researching the ubiquitin system. The longer-term aim is to attract new biotechnology companies to Scotland and to facilitate the development of improved drugs to treat diseases that target components of the ubiquitin system.

"It is therefore extremely exciting and most gratifying that Ubiquigent has been formed just one year after the launch of Scills, several years earlier than the predictions I made in my business plan."

The launch of Ubiquigent reunites Cohen with Ian Ratcliffe, the new company's chief executive. The pair previously worked together to launch the European division of Upstate, a US firm set up in 1999 to market proteins and technologies from Dundee University's protein phosphorylation unit. Under the terms of the agreement, Stemgent will handle initial marketing of Ubiquigent products in the US, while marketing arrangements for Europe and the rest of the world are due to be announced shortly.

Keith Brown, Scottish skills minister, said: "This is an excellent investment for Dundee and for Scotland's life sciences sector.

"Our pioneering research and technology is globally renowned. We have a clear academic lead in this field."