British Patient Capital, the venture capital subsidiary of UK government-owned British Business Bank, has invested £10m into biotech firm Curve Therapeutics to support its cancer drug discovery technology.
The investment is part of a £40.5m Series A financing round for the Southampton-based company’s Microcycle drug discovery platform.
Other investors include Pfizer Ventures, Columbus Venture Partners, Advent Life Sciences and Epidarex Capital.
British Patient Capital said the investment would enable Curve to progress more quickly towards clinical stages and expand Microcycle “beyond challenging and complex intracellular protein targets”.
Ian Connatty, managing director of direct and co-investment at British Patient Capital, said: “The UK is a world leader in life sciences and Curve Therapeutics is yet another example of how this country continues to push the boundaries of innovation.
“Curve is developing a pipeline of first in class cancer treatments using its drug discovery platform. We are delighted to support them as they embark on the next steps in their growth journey.”
Simon Kerry, Curve’s chief executive, added: “We look forward to maximising the potential of our platform to further develop a rich pipeline of programmes with the potential to treat unmet clinical needs in a diverse range of diseases, including cancer.”
British Patient Capital’s investment comes as part of its Future Fund: Breakthrough programme, a £375m scheme encouraging private investors to co-invest with the government in R&D-intensive firms across the UK.
Chancellor Jeremy Hunt announced in the Autumn Statement that the programme would be extended with at least £50m.