PA 222/10
A newly spun-out company from The University of Nottingham, PRECOS Ltd, has secured a multi-year contract from a major pharmaceutical company, Janssen Pharmaceutica NV.
Janssen Pharmaceutica NV has also entered into a research contract with The University of Nottingham to conduct research under the University’s newly established Ex Vivo Cancer Pharmacology Centre of Excellence within the Division of Pre-Clinical Oncology, School of Clinical Sciences, headed by Professor Sue Watson.
This research funding will allow the University division, under Professor Watson’s leadership, to continue its world-leading work in the development of sophisticated cancer models to examine potential new drugs for anti-cancer activity. Ex vivo refers to experiments done outside the living body, for example on tissues cultured in the laboratory.
Click here for full story
Professor Watson said: “This is a great opportunity for translating laboratory expertise in cancer drug development into medicines with real patient benefit. We look forward to working closely with Janssen on these ongoing initiatives.”
PRECOS Ltd provides specialist services to both pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies that help them develop new anti-cancer drugs. PRECOS’s unique services allow new drugs to be screened early in the research process for anti-cancer activity, meaning drugs with potential beneficial effects can be spotted and pushed forward, while those with no useful activity, or toxic side-effects, can be weeded out.
This potentially stops companies wasting time and money on drugs that will not be successful, and allows them to concentrate their efforts on those compounds most likely to have a therapeutic effect in patients with cancer.
PRECOS’s service is based on devising patient-relevant models in a laboratory setting, which closely reflect each aspect of cancer development in patients, starting with pre-cancerous lesions and progressing to established tumours and secondary growths. The modelling allows the monitoring of tumour development in real-time, using genetically engineered light-emitting cells.
PRECOS, an acronym of Pre-Clinical Oncology Services, was officially launched as a specialist business unit of The University of Nottingham in 2004, having evolved from the research expertise of the Division of Pre-clinical Oncology (formerly the Academic Unit of Cancer Studies). Headed by Professor Sue Watson, it has undertaken numerous successful collaborations with pharmaceutical and biotech companies in the UK, EU, US and Japan.
The success and ambition of PRECOS Ltd has been underlined by the appointment of Dr Neil Rotherham as Chairman of the PRECOS board. Dr Rotherham brings a wealth of experience in growing businesses providing services to drug development companies. Dr Rotherham was latterly co-founder and managing director of one of Nottingham’s and Europe’s most successful clinical technology businesses, ClinPhone plc.
Under Dr Rotherham’s guidance, ClinPhone grew from a two-person start-up in 1993 to a listing on the London Stock Exchange in 2006, at which point the business employed over 500 people in the UK, USA, Germany, Belgium and France. Dr Rotherham left the business after bringing through a management team to run the business subsequent to going public.
The PRECOS management team includes the business founders Professor Watson, who will act as Chief Scientific Officer, Dr Rajendra Kumari, the Chief Operating Officer, Dr Phil Clarke and Andy McKenzie, and Directors include Dr Glenn Crocker, Chief Executive Officer of BioCity Nottingham.
PRECOS is one more commercial success for The University of Nottingham, winner of the Times Higher Award for ‘Entrepreneurial University of the Year’ in 2008, which currently has a portfolio of 23 firms that have grown out of research by academic members of staff.
— Ends —
Notes to editors: The University of Nottingham is ranked in the UK's Top 10 and the World's Top 100 universities by the Shanghai Jiao Tong (SJTU) and the Times Higher Education-QS World University Rankings.
More than 90 per cent of research at The University of Nottingham is of international quality, according to RAE 2008, with almost 60 per cent of all research defined as ‘world-leading’ or ‘internationally excellent’. Research Fortnight analysis of RAE 2008 ranks the University 7th in the UK by research power. In 27 subject areas, the University features in the UK Top Ten, with 14 of those in the Top Five.
The University provides innovative and top quality teaching, undertakes world-changing research, and attracts talented staff and students from 150 nations. Described by The Times as Britain's "only truly global university", it has invested continuously in award-winning campuses in the United Kingdom, China and Malaysia. Twice since 2003 its research and teaching academics have won Nobel Prizes. The University has won the Queen's Award for Enterprise in both 2006 (International Trade) and 2007 (Innovation – School of Pharmacy), and was named ‘Entrepreneurial University of the Year’ at the Times Higher Education Awards 2008.
Nottingham was designated as a Science City in 2005 in recognition of its rich scientific heritage, industrial base and role as a leading research centre. Nottingham has since embarked on a wide range of business, property, knowledge transfer and educational initiatives (www.science-city.co.uk) in order to build on its growing reputation as an international centre of scientific excellence. The University of Nottingham is a partner in Nottingham: the Science City.