Genomics plc, a data science company that is known for focusing on the use of human genetic information to boost drug development, recently revealed that it had successfully culminated its £25 million Series B round of funding.
Other than Vertex Pharmaceuticals Incorporated, which led the round, other participants in the oversubscribed fundraising included Tanarra, Lansdowne Partners, Oxford Sciences, Woodford Investment Management Ltd, IP Group plc, Oxford Sciences Innovation(OSI) and Invesco Perpetual.
Aside from announcing the close of the Series B round, Genomics plc also revealed a partnership with Vertex Pharmaceuticals Incorporated intended to further propel Vertex ’s efforts to create transformative drugs for individuals suffering from severe illnesses.
With the proceeds collected from the recent funding round, Genomics plc is expected to facilitate further expansion in a bid to continue to bolster its powerful database and explore opportunities that arise in this particular fast-growing field.
Currently, Genomics boasts a unique analysis engine that utilizes genetics to comprehend human biology as well as the potential effectiveness and safety of potential new medicines.
In fact, the Genomics engine is the biggest of its kind globally, with more than 100 billion data points. It connects human genetic variation at more than 14 million positions that exist in the human genome to various changes in 7,000 cellular, molecular as well as disease outcomes and physiological measurements.
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Genomics plc’s CEO and founder Professor Peter Donnelly FRS said that the company is excited to be backed by a strong team of both institutional and strategic investors.
He added that the recent fundraising would assist the company in taking advantage of its extensive expertise in genetics and data science, its proprietary machine learning algorithms and world-leading genomics information database in delivering enhanced accuracy to drug discovery.
Genomics plc is the foremost genome analysis company in the world. It was established back in 2014 by four University of Oxford-based leading scientists including Gil McVean( the Director of Oxford’s Big Data Institute), Professor Peter Donnelly, who was the Director of the Wellcome Centre for Human Genetics at the time.
The company’s vision is to leverage genomic insights in transforming the drug discovery industry, particularly through obtaining improved drugs that are developed more rapidly and targeted to the ideal patient groups.
Each person hosts a distinctive collection of genetic variants whereby many of them are involved in changing certain aspects of human biology. Genomics plc relies on one main concept, which entails that in a bid to know the consequences of a proposed drug, you need to focus on individuals who carry genetic variants that affect a similar part of the human biology as the drug in question.
This technique enables the company to understand human biology as opposed to relying on the model systems that often lead to 90% drug targets’ failure when tested in humans.
With the support of leading investors, particularly in life sciences, Genomics plc boasts a professional cross-disciplinary team made up of more than 40 individuals including software engineers and scientists. They are located in offices in Cambridge and Oxford University.
Source Genomics
