MIP Discovery, a biotechnology company that develops non-biological affinity reagents for cell and gene therapy applications, has secured a £7 million Series A funding round led by Mercia Ventures. The round also saw participation from existing investor Calculus Capital and Angel investors.

The company plans to use the new capital to further commercialize its novel synthetic affinity reagents, which are designed to improve the downstream processing of cell and gene therapies. MIP Discovery will also expand its team with more cell and gene therapy experts and collaborate with leading industry players to create novel tools for viral vector characterization, purification, and safety.

Cell and gene therapies are emerging as a new class of medicines that can potentially cure or modify diseases at the genetic level. However, one of the major challenges in developing and manufacturing these therapies is the use of viral vectors, which are used to deliver the therapeutic genes into the cells. Current technologies that rely on biological reagents, such as antibodies, are often limited by scalability, performance, and cost issues.

MIP Discovery aims to overcome these limitations by offering synthetic antibody alternatives, which are custom-made for each target and application. These synthetic affinity reagents are more stable, robust, and versatile than biological reagents, and can enable more efficient and effective downstream processing of viral vectors.

Stephane Argivier, CEO, MIP Discovery, said: “Securing funding for a novel reagents company in today’s investment landscape demonstrates clear confidence in MIP Discovery’s technology and renewed commercial strategy. Our proprietary modeling approach to developing synthetic antibody alternatives has already been successful for diagnostic applications, and we have already seen very encouraging traction for our expertise in the cell and gene therapy space.”

Mike Evans, Chair of MIP Discovery, said: “MIP Discovery’s synthetic affinity reagents offer an innovative alternative to antibodies, and are better suited for downstream processing of advanced therapies. Backed by our proven technology and the confidence of our investors, we hope to help increase the affordability of cell and gene therapies, enabling the efficient delivery of these potentially life-saving treatments on a global scale.”

Dr Mark Payton, CEO of Mercia, said: “The broader cell and gene therapy market is a rapidly growing multi-billion-dollar market and its next stage of evolution is to focus down on technologies that reduce the cost of production and purification to ensure this therapeutic benefit is available for the many. Using MIPs’ sophisticated and highly scalable synthetic chemistry approach means they are well positioned to benefit from this tremendous high growth opportunity.”

Liz Klein, Investment Director at Calculus, added: “MIP Discovery’s synthetic affinity reagents hold huge potential to overcome bottlenecks in cell and gene therapy development and production. We are delighted to be further backing MIP as they are making significant technical progress.”