CTM Biotech - From lab bench to clinic: new company to boost biopharmaceutical development

13^th October ’03, Babraham, Cambridge, UK A new company, CTM Biotech, has been set-up by a team of UK scientists and entrepreneurs to help early-stage bioscience companies progress their pharmaceuticals from the laboratory to the clinic.  The company aims to alleviate the bottleneck that exists between the clients’ in-house, research-phase development and large-scale GMP production.  CTM Biotech will undertake project management, process development and non-GMP production services, and will operate from bespoke facilities at Babraham Research Campus, in the heart of the Cambridge Bioscience cluster. 

CTM Biotech’s founders, Jon Mowles (Commercial Director) and Rod Smith (Scientific Director), have over 40 years experience in the biopharmaceutical development industry.  David Gough, a highly experienced entrepreneur, has joined as non-executive chairman. 

Jon Mowles stated, “A major problem that young bioscience companies face is in managing the transition of their products from the laboratory bench to early stage clinical trials.  They may not have the necessary skills, experience or equipment readily available. CTM Biotech’s significant background in process development and optimisation means that we can bring added value to a client’s project, and can facilitate their future GMP manufacturing needs.” 

In addition to bank and private investment funding, CTM Biotech has also benefited from the support of Babraham Bioscience Technologies (BBT) Ltd’s BioConcepts programme.  BioConcepts is partly funded by the East of England Development Agency as a regional Enterprise Hub. 

Dr David Hardman, Chief Executive of BBT commented, “We are delighted to see the successful launch of CTM BioTech as the first company that we have supported through Babraham BioConcepts.”  He added, “The rapid expansion in understanding of the roles of proteins in biology continues to fuel commercial interest in this class of medicines.  The services offered by CTM Biotech will be critical to the development of many of the emerging companies in the Cambridge cluster.”

Contacts:

Notes for Editors

Protein-based pharmaceuticals are one of the success stories of recent years and continue to grow in importance.  In 2002, approximately one third of all new approvals by the FDA were biologics - monoclonal antibodies, therapeutic proteins or vaccines.  Several biologics, including erythropoeitin, interferon gamma and rituximab, have reached ‘blockbuster’ status. 

CTM Biotech’s Services

Amongst the key services offered are batch production for lead candidate clones, process development to optimise protein expression during fermentation, batch purification and purification process development to complement the upstream process.  Other services include cell line manufacture, clone selection and isolation, definition of process operating parameters and “edges of failure”, the generation of Manufacturing Directions and technology transfer expertise, to full GMP production where required.   CTM offers expertise in bacterial, mammalian and baculovirus protein expression systems, enhanced by an array of upstream and downstream capabilities. These range from small-scale shake flask and spinner bottles for clone evaluation, to fermentors (up to 125L), hollow fibre systems and roller bottle apparatus. All work will be conducted to fully documented systems.

Babraham BioConcepts

Babraham Bioscience Technologies (BBT) Ltd has built on the success of its current bioincubator by developing Babraham BioConcepts, an holistic support facility to help innovators and aid
entrepreneurs deliver their ambitions to found new bioventures.  BioConcepts aims to: promote and accelerate the technology-to-business translation processes for bio-technology concepts, creating commercial opportunities capable of rapid transition into fully-funded businesses; provide support during the critical formative phases in delivery of formulated business strategies; address the funding gap in the proof-of-business-concept process.  Dr David Hardman is Chief Executive of BBT Ltd and initiated the BioConcepts programme in April 2003.

Jon Mowles, BSc, MSc, Commercial Director

After completing his Masters degree at the Royal Post Graduate Medical School, London, Jon worked as a microbiologist at University College Hospital, London. He was one of the founding members of staff to establish the European Collection of Animal Cell Cultures (ECACC), Porton Down, Salisbury, and as Deputy Head, was responsible for all commercial aspects of the Collection. Jon then joined the Canadian company BioChem Pharma as Monoclonal Antibody Production Manager (responsible for both in-house and contract production), and ultimately became General Manager of the UK subsidiary.  Prior to co-founding CTM BioTech, Jon worked in both the UK and Europe as an independent consultant, on contracts ranging from sourcing and managing prokaryotic production for the pharmaceutical industry, to contract monoclonal antibody production for diagnostic use. He also had a significant role in the planning and development of a new GMP bio-pharmaceutical contract production facility in France.  Projects were completed for a variety of companies from European SME’s to global Japanese corporations.

Rod Smith, BSc, PhD, Scientific Director

Rod Smith has been working in biotechnology since 1984, and has significant expertise in the development and scale-up of fermentation systems and processes for GMP within the bio-pharmaceutical industry. Rod’s first degree was in Applied Biochemistry at Liverpool Polytechnic after which he studied for his PhD at the Centre for Applied Microbiology and Research (CAMR) at Porton Down. He then joined the European Collection of Animal Cell Cultures (ECACC) where he worked with mammalian production systems for viruses and secreted proteins, such as monoclonal antibodies.  From ECACC, Rod joined Cantab Pharmaceuticals as a virus production scientist working on the company’s Herpes simplex Virus vaccine. Rod was then promoted to Head of Upstream Process Development and was responsible for scale-up process development for all bacterial viral and mammalian cell production systems, both for the company’s own products and also on a contract basis.

David Gough

David Gough is a specialist in building businesses in the emerging biomedical sector. He has enjoyed a successful and broadly based career spanning over thirty years as a manager, consultant, entrepreneur and investor. As well as general management roles with four companies including Avlar BioVentures and Vectura Ltd a drug delivery company, he has held board level positions in marketing, business development, finance and operations. In 1996 he founded First Instar Limited a consulting firm specialising in mentoring, strategic management and finance for the life sciences and biomedical industries. David is a non–executive director of Adjuvantix, and CTM Biotech and an advisor to Babraham Bioscience Technologies, ET Capital and Quester Management.