UCL spin-out raises £1M for domain-hunting technology

Funding round completed

University College London spin-out Domainex has announced it has raised £1 million from two funds to develop its “combinatorial domain hunting” (CDH) technology, which is used to clone proteins. Investors were Longbow Capital, which specialises in healthcare and technology investments, and The Capital Fund, the regional venture capital fund for London.

Set up in 2001 and with headquarters in London, Domainex is a contract research company specialising in the provision of structural biology and chemistry services to major pharmaceutical and biotechnology firms. It is also developing a pipeline of pre-clinical drugs and targets. Previous contracts for its protein expression technology include the Belgium-based pharmaceuticals company UCB. In May 2007 Domainex merged with NCE Discovery at Cambridge to form a new integrated company with capabilities in biology and chemistry.

Eddy Littler, Chief Executive Officer of Domainex, said: “We are delighted to have attracted this investment, particularly in a challenging fundraising environment. Our objective now is to realise the full value of our unique biology and build a portfolio of targets that we will out-license to clients – at an early stage, in the case of key reagents and X-ray crystal structures, and at a later stage with our associated lead series of inhibitors.”

Domainex says its portfolio will focus initially on targets for cancer treatments , and that and says it has started to discuss these targets with pharmaceutical companies with a view to future out-licensing.

Commenting on the fundraising, Littler added: “We have worked closely with Edward Rudd and the Longbow team since their initial investment and it is a great endorsement to have them re-investing on this round. We also welcome The Capital Fund on board as new investors – Ian Cameron has been very supportive of our plans as we move into our next stage of development.”

Edward Rudd, Co-founder and Partner at Longbow Capital, said: “The combination of unique CDH technology and its NCE Discovery chemistry expertise gives Domainex a strong competitive advantage and this is further supplemented by the Company’s highly skilled management team. We are delighted with the progress achieved by Eddy Littler and his team and pleased to support Domainex with the additional funding needed to expand the contract services business and progress commercialisation of the drug discovery projects.”

Ian Cameron, Investment Director at The Capital Fund, said: “We are pleased to have the opportunity to invest in Domainex. The application of the company’s CDH platform and strengths in medicinal chemistry could play a key role in reducing drug discovery timelines.”