A new, light-activated treatment for oral cancers is being developed here in the North East. Dr Sam Whitehouse, CEO of LightOx, explains how the company is overcoming the challenges that face young biotech businesses.
The North East is a region which gets things done. We deliver – that’s what we’re good at – and we have great talent here as well, but still there are challenges to growing a life sciences or biotech business in the North East.
Securing investment
Finding investment to grow a business outside of the South East is more challenging. The UK investment market overlooks life sciences at the moment, as it’s often a long-term investment, but with fantastic multiples if it goes well. I hope with the Government’s recently announced Mansion House Reforms, we see more investment in Life Sciences. These reforms unlock pension funds to be able to invest in unlisted assets – potentially a real boost to the economy and to a wide range of UK businesses.
A changing regulatory environment
We see movement in the way we work with other regulators around the world and when it comes to oncology we have accelerated pathways and multiple submission routes which allow the MHRA is now able gain market approvals in multiple countries with just one application (called project Orbis in collaboration with the FDA). This means we can now open up access to many different global markets at once, which is incredibly powerful.
International opportunities
At the recent European Life Sciences CEO Forum in Zurich, we presented LightOx’s new oral cancer treatment to major investors from around the world and received strong interest, particularly from investors in Asia.
We need support to showcase the best of the North East’s life sciences businesses not just on a national scale but globally – this in turn allows us to grow our businesses and make our drugs and treatments available to people who need them worldwide.
Connecting the North East
The North East has been my home for 15 years and it’s where LightOx started out as a spin-out from Durham University. In that time, I’ve seen the biotech sector grow and I’ve experienced the benefits of the great people and the quality of life that living here brings.
I hope to see more integration beyond the region, between Newcastle, Manchester, Sheffield and Leeds, for example. We need stronger investment throughout the UK’s infrastructure to break away from the hub and spoke model of “London – and then everywhere else’, and to encourage more investments in businesses here in the North East.
LightOx is currently developing a portfolio of light-activated cancer treatments and has secured investment from partners in the UK and in the Netherlands to progress the new products to market. Find out more at www.lightox.co.uk.
