Northern Gritstone invests into Apini

Northern Gritstone makes a £1.8 million commitment to University of Manchester life sciences spinout Apini

Apini is developing a novel small molecule for the treatment of chronic inflammatory diseases. Potential indications include Crohn’s disease and Ulcerative Colitis, the two most common forms of inflammatory bowel disease (IBD), which affects as many as 10 million people worldwide.

Apini is looking to address the significant unmet need in this area of medicine through targeted modulation of eNAMPT, an enzyme implicated in multiple inflammatory conditions.

Apini was discovered by founding scientist Professor Sam Butterworth (pictured), who is world-renowned for his work in the invention of Tagrisso, a life-saving anti-cancer drug for EGFR mutant lung cancer that is used globally.

The company is a spinout from the University of Manchester and was supported by the the university’s Innovation Factory.

·Northern Gritstone’s £1.8 million commitment follows Syncona’s investment into Apini as part of its accelerator Slingshot Therapeutics.

Apini’s funding from Northern Gritstone and Syncona will be delivered over three tranches tied to company milestones.

Northern Gritstone Chief Executive, Duncan Johnson, said: “Apini is based on the groundbreaking drug development work of Professor Sam Butterworth from the University of Manchester, and is a fantastic example of life sciences company creation based on world-class research. We’re delighted to invest in Apini, alongside Syncona, and with the support of the Slingshot accelerator”

Founder of Apini, Professor Sam Butterworth said “This investment from Northern Gritstone supports Apini’s mission to treat inflammatory diseases without the induction of immune suppression. We look forward to advancing and accelerating the Apini programme which we believe can bring meaningful improvements to patients across a broad range of chronic inflammatory diseases.”