Laverock Therapeutics secures Innovate UK award to advance immune effector cell therapeutics programme using GEiGS® technology

Oct 30, 2023

Laverock Therapeutics secures £1m funding via the Innovate UK Investor Partnerships Future Economy programme, supported by UKI2S. 

Laverock Therapeutics, developer of a unique gene silencing platform for the creation of programmable advanced therapies, is pleased to announce that it has been awarded £1m in funding, made up of a £700k grant from Innovate UK, the UK’s innovation agency, and co-funded by Innovate UK cancer therapeutics programme via their investor partnership programme, with UK Innovation and Science Seed Fund (UKI2S) acting as the investor partner. The award will enable Laverock to progress its immune effector cell therapeutic programme aiming to combat hard-to-treat cancers, via use of its gene editing induced gene silencing (GEiGS®) technology.


The Innovate UK and UKI2S funded project will provide access to patient derived, highly disease relevant experimental tools. This will aid preclinical evaluation and the generation of key data in support of Laverock’s programmable macrophage and T-cell programmes developed using its unique GEiGS technology. This will facilitate informed decision making on the selection of future oncology therapeutic candidates.


Support from Innovate UK and UKI2S will also allow Laverock to strengthen internal capabilities in immune oncology by building an oncology focused team and facilitating collaboration with leading centres of excellence. These collaborations will focus on patients’ needs and enable the development of more targeted therapeutic products for the communities that will benefit.


Tim Allsopp, Chief Technology Officer of Laverock Therapeutics, said, ‘We’re tremendously excited by this achievement and the public-private endorsement of our technology that Innovate co-funding provides. We’d like to thank Innovate UK and UKI2S for their support and look forward to integrating our novel gene silencing GEiGS® platform into more effective therapeutic designs for the benefit of the global cancer patient community.’


Oliver Sexton, UKI2S Investment Director, added, ‘UKI2S is delighted to invest alongside Innovate UK as a member of the Investor Partnerships scheme. As an investor, Innovate UK’s support for additional programmes provides a powerful tool to accelerate development and de-risk investment. Innovate UK and UKI2S’s equity is helping Laverock add to its pipeline of ground-breaking therapies.’


This award follows the company’s recent expansion of its seed funding round to £13.5m.


ENDS


For further information please contact:


Laverock Therapeutics

E: contact@laverocktx.com

 

Sciad Communications

E: pressteam@sciad.com

T: +44 (0)20 3405 7892


Notes to Editors


About Laverock Therapeutics
Laverock Therapeutics is developing a unique gene silencing platform for the creation of programmable advanced therapies. The company was established in 2021 to commercialise the gene editing induced gene silencing (GEiGS) technology for human therapeutic applications. GEiGS provides significant advantages over current approaches allowing generation of products with improved efficacy, safety and accessibility.

 

About GEiGS®

GEiGS uses universal gene editing tools to minimally edit non-coding genes and redirect their silencing activity (RNAi) towards a new target gene. GEiGS is strongly differentiated from other gene silencing approaches through its core stable, tunable and programmable attributes, ensuring cell type- or condition-specific activity.

For more information, please visit www.laverocktx.com and follow us on LinkedIn. 

 

About Innovate UK

Innovate UK drives productivity and economic growth by supporting businesses to develop and realise the potential of new ideas.

We connect businesses to the partners, customers and investors that can help them turn ideas into commercially successful products and services and business growth.

We fund business and research collaborations to accelerate innovation and drive business investment into R&D. Our support is available to businesses across all economic sectors, value chains and UK regions.

Innovate UK is part of UK Research and Innovation. For more information visit www.ukri.org/councils/innovate-uk/

Laverock Therapeutics announces appointment of Ali Elsley as Finance Director and expansion of team

By Juliette Craggs • 26 Mar, 2024
Stevenage, UK, 26 March 2024 - Laverock Therapeutics, a gene-silencing company with a uniquely powerful technology for the development of programmable advanced therapies to tackle major diseases, today announces the appointment of Ali Elsley as Finance Director.  Ali has extensive experience in the biotechnology and pharma sector working with both private and public companies. She joins from Acacia Pharma Group plc, an early commercial-stage listed pharma company, where she was Group Financial Controller and Company Secretary and focused on equity fundraising, M&A activity and all aspects of financial operations. Prior to this, she spent 10 years as an auditor with PwC LLP in Cambridge, with a focus on early-stage biotech and pharma companies, together with advisory IPO work. She is a fellow of the Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales and holds a degree in Archaeology and Anthropology from the University of Cambridge. In addition to Ali’s appointment, Laverock has significantly grown its team to 24 people, representing growth of 50% over the past year, and expanded its R&D facilities in the Stevenage Bioscience Catalyst as it continues to build its capabilities following its £13.5m expanded seed round announced in September last year, the second highest seed investment by a UK company in 2023. David Venables, CEO of Laverock, said: “Ali has an exceptional track record working with innovative biotechnology and pharma companies. I very much look forward to working closely with her and the rest of our fast-growing team as we continue to apply our uniquely powerful gene-silencing technology to the development of a new generation of programmable advanced therapies to tackle major diseases.” Ali Elsley, FD of Laverock, said: “Laverock’s technology has the potential to create a step-change in advanced therapies and I have been hugely impressed with the pace of progress since joining the company. The management team and Board are exceptionally strong, and I believe we have a very solid foundation from which to deliver on the promise.” ENDS For further information please contact: Laverock Therapeutics: E: contact@laverocktx.com Media Enquiries : Charles Consultants Sue Charles – Sue@charles-consultants.com +44 (0)7968 726585 Chris Gardner – Chris@CGComms.onmicrosoft.com +44 (0)7956 031077 About Laverock Therapeutics Laverock Therapeutics is a gene-silencing company with a uniquely powerful technology which harnesses the cell’s natural gene regulatory mechanisms to develop a new generation of programmable advanced therapies to tackle major diseases. Laverock’s truly innovative technology re-directs naturally-occurring micro RNAs (miRNAs) to conditionally silence genes in a way which is programmable, tunable, stable and specific. This opens a path to more effective, safer and accessible advanced therapies. Laverock is applying its technology through its own pipeline – targeting regenerative medicine and oncology – and through partnerships. Laverock has a highly experienced leadership team with proven track records in biotechnology, pharma and academia and an exceptionally strong Board. Laverock completed a £13.5m seed round in September 2023. Its high-calibre investors include Calculus Capital, Eli Lilly and Company, Mercia Ventures, Maven Capital Partners, Eos, UK Innovation & Science Seed Fund and Tekfen Ventures. For more information, please visit www.laverocktx.com and follow us on LinkedIn .

Exploring the convergence of gene editing and RNAi in iPSC-derived allogeneic cell therapy

By Juliette Craggs • 20 Nov, 2023
Within cell and gene therapy, there is a growing reliance on innovation in genome editing technology. David McCall (Senior Editor, BioInsights), speaks to Vlad Seitan, (Chief Scientific Officer, Laverock Therapeutics) about enhancing advanced therapies through a novel approach that combines the power of gene editing with the RNA interference (RNAi) pathway.

Laverock Therapeutics to demonstrate breadth of therapeutic applications of gene silencing platform at ESGCT

By Juliette Craggs • 20 Oct, 2023
Laverock Therapeutics will present a series of posters at the European Society of Gene & Cell Therapy (ESGCT) Annual Congress in Brussels on 24-27 th October. The posters will focus on the therapeutic applications of Gene Editing induced Gene Silencing (GEiGS®) technology, demonstrating the wide range of therapy areas that can benefit from its use. Tom Payne, COO, Vlad Seitan, CSO, Anna Klucnika, Scientist, Vishal Menon, Scientist, and Alina Letzel, Scientist, will all be attending the conference. GEiGS uses universal gene editing tools to minimally edit non-coding genes and redirect their silencing activity towards a new target gene. This enables the generation of products with improved efficacy, safety and accessibility by ensuring cell type- or condition-specific activity. Laverock is currently developing programmes in regenerative medicine and immuno-oncology, with a focus on Type I Diabetes and solid tumour responsive T-cell and macrophage based immune therapies. To find out more and discuss potential partnering opportunities, visit the Laverock posters at P516, P582 and P706. The posters will be presented on Wednesday 25 th October, 6:15pm-7:30pm and Thursday 26 th October, 7:30pm-8:30pm, so a member of the team will be on hand to discuss the technology, or you can arrange a meeting during the conference by contacting contact@laverocktx.com . The posters being presented by Laverock, include: P516 Session: Immunotherapy & CART cells Engineering programmable, TME-responsive macrophages for solid tumour immunotherapy using Gene Editing induced Gene Silencing (GEiGS) technology P582 Session: Metabolic diseases Next generation, allogeneic cell therapies for Type 1 Diabetes – utilising Gene Editing induced Gene Silencing (GEiGS) technology to address current challenges P706 Session: Gene editing Gene Editing induced Gene Silencing (GEiGS) – A new platform for programmable cell engineering Laverock is recruiting! Check out the active roles on the website – www.laverocktx.com or speak to one of the team to find out more. The ESGCT Annual Congress is designed to promote basic and clinical research in gene therapy, cell therapy and genetic vaccines. The event will facilitate the exchange of information and provide key stakeholders the opportunity to come together and discuss the latest progress in these areas.
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