BioMoti

BioMoti collaborates with global pharmaceutical company to develop ovarian cancer treatment and appoints Dr John Beadle as chairman

admin — Thu, 19 May 2022 09:00:00 +0000

BioMoti Ltd today announces an agreement with a global pharmaceutical company to collaborate on the development of its lead ovarian cancer candidate, BMT101, to clinical phase 2a proof-of-concept. The collaboration agreement provides access to the partner company’s expertise including its proprietary commercial manufacturing technology and an option for the global pharmaceutical company to licence BMT101 in specific territories.

BMT101, BioMoti’s lead candidate for the unmet need in ovarian cancer, is a new type of tumour-targeted treatment consisting of CD95-coated long-acting paclitaxel-loaded microparticles. BMT101 has shown very encouraging preclinical proof-of-concept results compared to the clinical standard-of-care, paclitaxel, including over 10-fold increases in drug concentration in tumours, 65-fold reductions in tumour burden, a 4-fold increase in survival and a reduction in toxicity.

BioMoti also announces that Dr John Beadle has joined its Board of Directors as Chairman, replacing Dr Keith Powell who has stepped down. Dr John Beadle, MBBCh, MBA, brings a wealth of experience and knowledge in the development of clinical stage biotech companies. He was previously founding Chief Executive Officer of PsiOxus Therapeutics, founder and Chief Medical Officer of PowderMed, Entrepreneur-in-Residence at Imperial innovations and Vice President of Global Medical Operations at GlaxoSmithKline. To date, he has raised in excess of $150M and realised transaction values in excess of $300M within the biotech industry.

Dr Davidson Ateh, CEO of BioMoti, said: “We are extremely pleased to have secured a strong development partner with commercial manufacturing experience on similar products to BMT101. The company’s expertise includes developing clinical candidates to market launch, offering a unique opportunity for us to address the significant medical need in the treatment of ovarian cancer patients.”

He added: “We are very grateful for the contributions of our departing Chairman, Dr Keith Powell, who has stepped down to focus on other duties. He remains a good friend and trusted advisor. We are delighted to welcome Dr John Beadle at this crucial stage of our development. John is a remarkable leader within our industry with an impressive track record and whose impact is already being felt as we move forward with the next stages of clinical development.”

Dr John Beadle, Chairman of BioMoti, said: “I am delighted to join BioMoti at this exciting time as we transition the technology from pre-clinical research into a clinical development programme, thus bringing the BioMoti technology one step closer to becoming a treatment for patients with ovarian cancer.”

For further information, please contact:

BioMoti Ltd:

Dr Davidson Ateh

BioMoti CEO

Email: info@biomoti.com

Media contact:

Jasmin Shearan / Darya Shulakova / Deborah Cockerill

Sciad Communications Ltd

T: +44 (0)20 3405 7892

E: pressteam@sciad.com

Notes to editors:

BioMoti Limited

BioMoti is developing Oncojans, a promising new class of CD95-coated drug-loaded particles, designed to precisely target and gain entry to cancer cells. In the tumours, they slowly release drugs at the point of need whilst sparing healthy tissue. Early preclinical studies for BMT101, our lead ovarian cancer candidate, compared to the clinical standard of care, paclitaxel, has shown very encouraging results including over 10-fold increases in drug concentration in tumours, 65-fold reductions in tumour burden, a 4-fold increase in survival and a reduction in toxicity. BMT101 and future Oncojan drug combinations are expected to be transformational in the treatment of cancer patients.

For further information visit: www.biomoti.com

Ovarian cancer indication

Invasive epithelial ovarian cancer is a fatal malignancy characterised by tumour spread to the abdominal cavity affecting the organs within (e.g. the spleen, bowel mesentery and liver). Globally, there were 313,959 ovarian cancer cases in 2020 including 66,693 in Europe and 23,820 in the US (GLOBOCAN). Unlike many other cancers, there have only been minor improvements in ovarian cancer patient outcomes. Women diagnosed with ovarian cancer in 1975 experienced a five-year survival rate of 36% whereas the American Cancer Society estimates the rate to be at 49% in 2019. It is the 5^th leading cause of cancer deaths in women. Ovarian cancer patients are typically offered debulking surgery followed by chemotherapy. Carboplatin and paclitaxel are commonly used in combination. More recently PARP inhibitors have been added to the treatment regimen for a subset of ovarian cancer patients, namely those that are BRCA positive.

BMT101 ovarian cancer market

The global ovarian cancer therapeutics market size was valued at $1.8B in 2018 and is set to grow to over $6.7B by 2028 (GlobalData, 2019). This will primarily be driven by branded PARP inhibitor adoption as maintenance therapy in the first line setting for a subset of patients; Lynparza, Zejula and Rubraca are projected to achieve a combined revenue of $2.8B by 2028 (GlobalData, 2019). Chemotherapy continues to be standard treatment for 80% of ovarian cancer patients and is currently dominated by lower cost off-patent generics. There is a large opportunity for a new branded therapy that significantly improves on chemotherapy efficacy and tolerability. BMT101 is projected to quickly achieve over $385M in annual sales within the top 7 pharmaceutical markets alone, with the potential for peak sales in excess of $643M.

Dr John Beadle

John is an entrepreneurial biotech leader, founding and growing successful and innovative biotechnology companies. Working with strong management teams to produce exceptional scientific, clinical and commercial results, he has led innovative companies and programs in the fields of nucleotide based vaccines, gene therapies and immuno-oncology. Previous roles include: Founding Chief Executive Officer of PsiOxus Therapeutics; Founder and Chief Medical Officer of PowderMed; Entrepreneur in Residence at Imperial innovations; Site Head at Pfizer; and Vice President of Global Medical Operations at GlaxoSmithKline.

Total fundraising to date in excess of $150m, including equity fundraising in excess of $120m from a combination of European, US and Asian investors and non-dilutive funding in excess of $30m from European and US sources. Completed transactions include in-licensing and out-licensing as well as mergers & acquisitions, with total realised transaction values in excess of $300m to date. In 2017 PsiOxus appeared on the Sunday Times Tech Track 100 list of the fastest growing tech companies in the UK and FierceBiotech’s Fierce Fifteen list of global leading biotechnology companies.

In his early career, John held Research and Development roles of ascending seniority within The Wellcome Foundation, GlaxoWellcome and GlaxoSmithkline. John graduated as a Medical Doctor at the University of Witwatersrand and received his Masters of Business Administration from the London Business School.

BioMoti, Pharmidex and Queen Mary University of London secure £662,222 Biomedical Catalyst award

admin — Mon, 16 Oct 2017 05:30:19 +0000

BioMoti, Pharmidex and Queen Mary University of London (QMUL) have been awarded a grant of £662,222 by the UK’s innovation agency, Innovate UK. The grant was awarded under the Biomedical Catalyst funding competition to support preclinical studies of new therapeutic approaches for hard to treat tumours including advanced ovarian, triple negative breast and pancreatic cancers. The project is co-funded by a further £226,769 investment from the industrial partners BioMoti and Pharmidex.

The project focuses on BioMoti’s innovative approach, Oncojan, a sustained release precision therapeutics platform targeting CD95L mediated tumour immune evasion. Pharmidex’s knowledge of preclinical drug development and QMUL’s Pathology expertise in mechanisms of disease complete the project consortium. This two-year program will investigate precision delivery of drugs to solid tumour sites and immune system activation due to CD95L targeting on tumours.

CD95L is a surface ligand that is selectively and heavily overexpressed in tumour vasculature and cancer cells but not healthy tissues. CD95L promotes tumour immune evasion, cancer cell proliferation and metastasis. It is an essential gene for cancer survival and promotes cancer stem cells. High levels of CD95L expression in patient tumours are associated with increased malignancy and poor prognosis. Oncojans are a new class of therapeutic particles that target and gain entry to the tumour vasculature and cancer cells. Once inside CD95L+ve tumour cells, Oncojans slowly release therapeutic drugs at the point of need whilst sparing healthy tissue.

Dr Davidson Ateh, CEO of BioMoti, said: ‘Precise oncology drugs and especially those that can activate the immune system are rapidly emerging with major clinical trial successes registered for both antibody and cell-based approaches such as Merck’s Keytruda® or Novartis’s Kymriah. It is exciting for us to be supported by Innovate UK to explore our platform’s interactions with the immune system following promising efficacy data in cancer models. BioMoti is making great progress on a final seed investment round to support commercialisation and we welcome enquiries from qualified investors.’

Dr Chris Ireson, Head of Oncology at Pharmidex, said: ‘We are very pleased to join BioMoti and QMUL in the preclinical development of the Oncojan platform. This Innovate UK funded project is an exciting approach to cancer therapy that could have a significant impact on patient lives.’

Dr Mohammad Alavijeh, CEO of Pharmidex, said: ‘Partnering on this Biomedical Catalyst award is a great achievement for the Pharmidex oncology research team. This recently established group adds to our well established expertise in ADMET, PK, bioanalysis and CNS.’

Professor Joanne Martin, Professor of Pathology at QMUL, added: ‘Oncojans were first developed in my laboratory here at Queen Mary University of London with support from the BBSRC, Heptagon Fund and Barts and The London Charity. We are passionate about what a difference we could make for patients, and it is great to have secured Innovate UK funding.’

For further information, please contact:

Dr Davidson Ateh
BioMoti CEO
Email: info@biomoti.com

Notes to editors:

BioMoti Limited

BioMoti exists to transform the lives of cancer patients by doing things differently. We seek to transform the treatment of cancer by targeted delivery of therapeutics to the intracellular space of cancer cells; aiming to dramatically increase efficacy whilst reducing side effects. Oncojans are a new class of therapeutic microparticles that target and gain entry to the interior of cancer cells where they slowly release drugs at the point of need whilst sparing healthy tissue. The Oncojan platform is compatible with a range of drug classes from small molecule therapeutics to larger biologicals. BMT101 is BioMoti’s lead Oncojan based ovarian cancer candidate that has shown very promising potential in early preclinical studies.

For further information visit: www.biomoti.com

Pharmidex Pharmaceutical Services Limited

Pharmidex is a contract research organisation in medicines research and specialises in predicting and assessing ADMET properties of drugs. Pharmidex has significant expertise and resources in all aspects of preclinical development up to GLP toxicology. We provide a potent blend of experience and expertise in biology and drug discovery through a strong team of PhD qualified staff with hands-on experience. Pharmidex has a global list of clients that includes major pharma, biotechs, governmental institutes, universities and medical charities based in the UK, Europe, North America and Asia. Pharmidex has extensive experience and success in grant funded research collaborations (Innovate UK, EU FP and others).

For further information visit: www.pharmidex.com

Queen Mary University of London

Queen Mary University of London (QMUL) is one of the UK’s leading universities with 23,120 students representing more than 160 nationalities.

A member of the Russell Group, we work across the humanities and social sciences, medicine and dentistry, and science and engineering, with inspirational teaching directly informed by our research. In the most recent national assessment of the quality of research, we were placed ninth in the UK amongst multi-faculty universities (Research Excellence Framework 2014).

As well as our main site at Mile End – which is home to one of the largest self-contained residential campuses in London – we have campuses at Whitechapel, Charterhouse Square, and West Smithfield dedicated to the study of medicine and dentistry, and a base for legal studies at Lincoln’s Inn Fields.

Queen Mary began life as the People’s Palace, a Victorian philanthropic project designed to bring culture, recreation and education to the people of the East End. We also have roots in Westfield College, one of the first colleges to provide higher education to women; St Bartholomew’s Hospital, one of the first public hospitals in Europe; and The London, one of England’s first medical schools.

Today, as well as retaining these close connections to our local community, we are known for our international collaborations in both teaching and research. QMUL has an income of £400m and a research income worth £137m (2015/16) and generates employment and output worth in excess of £700m to the UK economy each year.

For further information visit: www.qmul.ac.uk

Innovate UK

Innovate UK helps businesses to identify the commercial potential in new technologies and turn them into the new products and services that will generate economic growth and increase productivity.

For further information and to stay updated on our latest news visit www.gov.uk/innovateuk, follow us on Twitter at @innovateuk or subscribe to our YouTube channel at www.youtube.com/InnovateUK.

Professor Joanne Martin is President-Elect of The Royal College of Pathologists

admin — Thu, 10 Nov 2016 08:00:50 +0000

Professor Joanne Martin, BioMoti co-founder and Director, has been elected by Fellows of The Royal College of Pathology to be their next president. Professor Martin was appointed President-Elect at the College’s Annual General Meeting.

Professor Martin said: “I am very honoured that College Fellows have given me the opportunity to serve my College. I will build on the work of my predecessors in raising the profile of the College and of pathology in government, industry and healthcare. The College is in a unique position to offer help and advice and to champion research, innovation and the great advances that pathology can make to health and patient care. Where there are challenges I also want to make sure that the voice of the profession is heard. I will work with the College to encourage and support the next generation of medical students and trainees to choose and flourish in a career in pathology.”

Professor Martin will take up the role of President from November 2017 when the College’s current President, Dr Suzy Lishman, demits office.

Physiomics Plc do not meet conditions to complete acquisition

admin — Wed, 21 Sep 2016 08:30:00 +0000

Previously, BioMoti announced on 18th August 2016, the signature of a conditional Share Purchase Agreement to be acquired by Physiomics Plc (AIM: PYC). However, due to not meeting the main condition, Physiomics Plc raising a minimum of £1 million in a placing, the acquisition will not complete.

Physiomics Plc did complete a placing of £555 thousand and will focus their efforts on growing their core modelling and simulation business at this point.

BioMoti will continue to pursue opportunities to develop its very promising cancer therapeutic technology through investments, partnerships and other suitable means.

For more details, please click to read the Physiomics Plc regulatory update

Signing of Share Purchase Agreement with Physiomics Plc

admin — Thu, 18 Aug 2016 11:44:03 +0000

BioMoti is pleased to announce that it has signed a Share Purchase Agreement to be acquired by Physiomics Plc (AIM: PYC). This follows our announcement on 31st March 2016 of non-binding Heads of Terms agreement with Physiomics Plc. The acquisition remains conditional on Physiomics Plc completing a successful placing to raise a minimum of £1 million to develop the new joint company’s drug discovery and development pipeline.

For more details, please click to read the Physiomics Plc regulatory update

Non-Binding Heads of Terms with Physiomics Plc

admin — Thu, 31 Mar 2016 07:40:42 +0000

BioMoti is pleased to announce that it has signed a non-binding Heads of Terms agreement to be acquired by Physiomics Plc (AIM: PYC). The Proposed Acquisition is currently conditional on a number of items, including due diligence and a successful equity fundraise.

For more details, please click to read the Physiomics Plc regulatory update

BioMoti CEO interviewed on PharmaTelevision

admin — Thu, 25 Jun 2015 18:32:33 +0000

Dr Davidson Ateh, BioMoti CEO, discusses BioMoti’s technology, achievements and plans in an interview with Dr Fintan Walton for PharmaTelevision.

Please click here to watch the interview

BioMoti is featured in UK biotech documentary

admin — Wed, 06 May 2015 06:39:11 +0000

Earlier this year, Dr Davidson Ateh, CEO, welcomed Philip Hemme and Joachim Eeckhout from LaBiotech Tour to Queen Mary University of London’s QMB Innovation Centre and Blizard Institute during their documentary tour of the UK’s biotech clusters. LaBiotech Tour is the first collection of documentary films about the world’s most vibrant biotech ecosystems. Find out more about their project and films: http://labiotechtour.com/

Watch the complete UK documentary film here (BioMoti is featured from 8:25): http://labiotech.eu/god-save-the-uk-biotechs/

Watch more BioMoti content:

BioMoti from LaBiotech Tour on Vimeo.

BioMoti is featured in the winter issue of the QMB Newsletter

admin — Thu, 11 Dec 2014 13:00:56 +0000

Dr Davidson Ateh, CEO, discusses efforts to bring BioMoti to an international audience in this winter issue of the QMB Newsletter. The article reviews three trips to the US under UKTI support and a couple to China organised by the Open Innovation unit at the University of Bradford with sponsorship from Yorkshire Cancer Research and AstraZeneca. There is also a summary of the recent UKTI one-day bootcamp “Winning Business in the US Bioscience Sector” during which BioMoti took home first prize at the PharmaVentures pitching competition.

Click to read the 2014 winter issue of Discovery (page 6-7 for articles): QMBNewsletter-dec-2014

Professor Linton and BioMoti awarded MRC Studentship

admin — Thu, 13 Mar 2014 09:42:12 +0000

We are very pleased to announce the award of a Medical Research Council Industrial CASE Studentship to Professor Kenneth Linton of Queen Mary University of London in collaboration with BioMoti. This prestigious training grant will support a standout PhD student to study the basic cellular and molecular biology mechanisms underpinning ‘targeting cancer cells with CD95R-coated nanoparticles’. Targeted delivery is a promising approach for therapeutic development with the recent clinical trial successes and market launch of Adcetris® by Seattle Genetics and Kadcyla® by Roche highlighting the paradigm shift in the case of antibody-drug conjugates.

Dr Davidson Ateh, CEO of BioMoti, said: ‘This MRC award is hugely welcome and represents the first funded collaborative venture between BioMoti and Prof Linton’s laboratory based on our mutual scientific interests. The complementary expertise in membrane protein biology and bioengineered drug delivery platforms brought by both partners will ensure exciting science is explored and developed in the crucial multidisciplinary area of targeted therapeutics delivery.’

Professor Kenneth Linton, Professor of Protein Biochemistry at Queen Mary University of London, added: ‘We are excited by this new collaborative venture and delighted by the support of the MRC. For many years my group has studied the mechanism by which drug-pumps extrude potential therapeutics from cancer cells, thus preventing them reaching their intracellular targets. These new, targeted, nanoparticles developed by BioMoti, should be capable of circumventing these pumps and it will be interesting to characterise their route of entry and to optimise their uptake into cancer cells’

Click here for a link to Professor Kenneth Linton’s group

Click here for a link to Queen Mary University of London

Click here for a link to the MRC Industrial CASE Studentship scheme

For further information, please contact:

Dr Davidson Ateh
CEO
info@biomoti.com

Notes to editors:

BioMoti

Oncojans are a new class of therapeutic microparticles that target and gain entry to the interior of cancer cells where they slowly release drugs at the point of need whilst sparing healthy tissue. The Oncojan platform is compatible with a range of drug classes from small molecule therapeutics to larger biologicals.

MOTI1001 is BioMoti’s lead Oncojan based ovarian cancer candidate that has shown very promising potential in early preclinical studies.