GRI Ltd, PolyTherics Ltd, Astech Projects, Novacta Therapeutics and O2h

GRI Ltd, a leading UK supplier of molecular biology solutions has joined together with Kapa Biosystems to offer the G-Storm GS1 Thermal Cycler with 96 FAST Block and 1500rxn KAPA2G Fast HotStart ReadyMix as a package. The offer follows the release of Kapa Biosystems’ Applications Note “Fast PCR: GStorm Thermal Cyclers.” According to GRI Sales & Marketing Director Simon Nicklin, this offer meets a specific need within the market place: “We are finding that more and more researchers want to increase the workload that their PCR machines are capable of in a day, whilst maintaining or even improving the quality of their results. This is now possible with the G-Storm GS1 with 96 Fast Block and KAPA2G Fast HotStart ReadyMix.“

PolyTherics Ltd innovators in precision engineering of proteins as biotherapeutic products has completed an investment round of £3.0 million in the company, led by Imperial Innovations Group plc, and including Longbow Capital and The Capital Fund. This follows on from a £2.3 million financing backed by the same syndicate in June 2007. Robert Bahns of Imperial Innovations joins the Board of PolyTherics at this investment round,
while Till Medinger and Stephane Mery resign from their non-executive director positions.

Keith Powell, Chief Executive Officer of PolyTherics, said: “Since the June 2007 financing round, PolyTherics has made considerable progress in developing its proprietary PEGylation technologies and partnering forbio - pharmaceutical product development. Moving now into this exciting next phase of development, we are pleased that our investors have continued to recognise the value-creation opportunity that PolyTherics represents. Our licensing business has generated significant revenues while we continue to innovate technologies and explore new ways to enhance the duration of action of drugs. Given the burgeoning market for biotherapeutics and especially ‘biobetter’ products, PolyTherics is ideally placed to capitalise on this investment and continue to build on its strengths”.

Dr Powell commented further: “I would like to sincerely thank Till and Stephane for their active and enthusiastic support as Board members over the past 5 years and look forward to working with Robert Bahns as our new director.”

Novacta Therapeutics and O2h announced a multi FTE chemistry collaboration to support their internal drug discovery efforts. “Following two very successful projects, we are excited to enter a third collaboration that combines the strengths of both companies,” said Dr Sjoerd Wadman, Head of Chemistry at Novacta Therapeutics. Sunil Shah, CEO of O2h said “We are excited to be a part of and support the research programs that Novacta is pioneering in the area of Lantibiotics and Bacteriocins. The large investment that they have received to date is testament to the scientific breakthroughs that they have made in this area.”

Novacta Therapeutics is the newly formed division of Novacta, focused exclusively on the discovery and development of novel antibacterial and antiviral agents to treat severe and difficult bacterial and viral infections. O2h is a 5 year old discovery services company with project offices in Cambridge, UK and research campus in Ahmedabad, India. The Indian operations provide a high level of chemistry expertise while UK office provides project
management support. Current clients of O2h include several top 20 pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies in the US, Europe and Japan.

Leading automation systems developer, Astech Projects, has appointed John Roberts to expand its dedicated sales team within the Packaging Robotics and Consumer Goods Testing markets. Mr Roberts assumes the post of Business Development Manager adding to Astech’s team of high calibre applications engineers. With over 15 years of experience in the packaging industry, Mr Roberts has built up a vast array of industry supplier/customer relationships. Anthony Moran, Director, Astech Projects, said: “We are delighted to welcome John to the team. Recruiting him is part of a strategic strengthening of Astech’s offering for the packaging industry. He is highly regarded and respected within the industry and I am looking forward to having his expertise as Astech continues to expand.”