VATIS UPDATE Article

Apollo Therapeutics, the collaborative venture between three world-leading UK universities and a trio of top global pharmaceutical companies, has invested in and launched the first of its drug discovery programmes in collaboration with academics at each of its partner universities. Apollo, the United Kingdom, was established in January 2016 by AstraZeneca, GlaxoSmithKline, Johnson & Johnson Innovation and the technology transfer offices of Imperial College London, University College London and the University of Cambridge.

It supports the translation of ground-breaking academic science from within these universities into innovative new drug discovery programmes and potential new medicines for a broad range of diseases. According to Apollo, these initial projects represent novel and compelling drug discovery projects, emerging from academic research in areas of high medical need for which Apollo’s drug discovery team saw a clear route to value creation.

A total of £8.5m has been committed in milestoned project plans. Two further projects are currently being finalised, with multiple others in the evaluation process across all three academic institutions. Apollo’s collaborative model is working well with its technology transfer partners – Cambridge Enterprise, Touchstone Innovations (formerly Imperial Innovations) and UCL Business – providing valuable support in sourcing opportunities from within their respective academic institutions.