Glythera achieves key technical and commercial milestones

Oct. 4, 2010 - PRLog -- Glythera Ltd, a UK based spin out company from the University of Bath specialising in a new generation of biological therapeutics through advanced glycosylation technologies, today announced that it had met key technical and commercial milestones as part of its Investment Agreement with the University of Bath Crescent Seedcorn fund and IP Group. Glythera will receive the second tranche of its £500,000 Investment to further advance its research in protein/peptide functionalisation and glycosylation technologies.  

Technical milestones achieved include the validation of Glythera’s PermaLink technology, a patented linker chemistry designed to selectively modify cysteine groups to stably attach functional groups (PEG, carbohydrates) at defined locations on therapeutic proteins, vaccines and peptides.  

Commercial milestones achieved include partnerships with four pharmaceutical companies and governmental research organisations.  These include the recently announced partnerships with PATH and the FDA.  Further partnerships will be announced in due course.  

“It is a testament to the utility of this transformational technology and the hard work of the Glythera team that we’ve been able to achieve these important milestones.  The current financing puts us on a firm footing to continue with the commercialisation of our Permalink and PermaCarb technologies enabling us to partner with pharma and biotech” said Executive Chairman Dr Anthony Baxter.

About the University of Bath and Bath Ventures
The University of Bath is one of the UK's leading universities, with an international reputation for research and teaching at the highest academic standard. In 2008 the University established Bath Ventures to build on its excellent track record in innovation and entrepreneurship and to maximise the return on the University's intellectual assets for the benefit of staff, the University, the economy and society. Bath Ventures identifies the University's most exciting commercial prospects, and develops opportunities for spin-out companies, licencing and academic consultancy through expert promotion, marketing, and deal negotiation. For more information and contacts see: www.bath.ac.uk/bathventures

About IP Group
IP Group is an intellectual property (IP) commercialisation company that specialises in commercialising university technology. Founded in 2001, IP Group listed on AIM in October 2003 and moved to the Official List in June 2006. It has made two acquisitions to date - Techtran, a company set up to commercialise university intellectual property under a long term contract with the University of Leeds, in 2005 and Top Technology Ventures, an investment adviser to early stage technology venture capital funds, in 2004. IP Group has formed long-term partnerships with ten universities - the University of Oxford, King's College London, CNAP/University of York, the University of Leeds, the University of Bristol, the University of Surrey, the University of Southampton, Queen Mary (University of London), the University of Bath and the University of Glasgow. The Company's portfolio is diverse with exposure to five main sectors - Energy & Renewables, Medical Equipment & Supplies, Pharma & Biotech, IT & Communications and Chemicals & Materials. To date, thirteen portfolio companies have listed on the AIM market of the London Stock Exchange, one on PLUS Markets and there have been four trade sales. For more information, please visit the website at www.ipgroupplc.com.

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About Glythera Ltd.
Glythera Limited is an emerging spin-out biotechnology company with core expertise in protein/peptide functionalisation and glycosylation technologies, imparting improved pharmacokinetic properties to biological therapeutics. For more information, please visit the website at www.glythera.com.