Vaccines specialist acquires Warwick licence as basis of spin-out

Licence deal

Tangent Reprofiling Ltd has been spun out by the vaccines company PepTcell Limited, to commercialise a drug reprofiling technique developed by Warwick University and a Warwick spin-out company, a2sp Ltd.

The technique enables researchers to investigate potential new uses for marketed drugs. While there are a number of ways to discover new uses for existing drugs, Tangent says its approach makes it possible to assess a large number of drugs in a cost and time efficient manner.

The system uses using a combination of established chemical genomics techniques and proprietary chemistry to look for unexpected interactions between a drug and different proteins in the body, and then suggest potential new uses for the drug.

Warwick Ventures, the university’s technology transfer office, supported the deal, which sees a2sp’s employees moving across to Tangent Reprofiling, and a2sp’s chief operating officer, Suzanne Dilly, becoming Tangent’s CEO.

PepTcell will own the majority interest in Tangent Reprofiling, with the university, previous staff members, consultants and directors of a2sp holding the remainder.

John Mihell, of Warwick Ventures, said, “We are excited by the prospects of this new relationship with the PepTcell group and hope that Tangent Reprofiling will fulfil their