The Treasury must be bolder in its support for university spinout companies
3 min read
Let’s celebrate the latest UK life science spinout story – but also make sure we don’t miss out on the next one.
Autolus Therapeutics – a UK success story – has had its ground-breaking immunotherapy treatment for acute lymphoblastic leukaemia (ALL) approved by the UK’s medicines regulatory authority, the MHRA. ALL affects around 8,400 people every year in the US and EU, and until now, options were limited for the many patients who either relapse or don't respond to standard treatment
This approval is game-changing for patients and a milestone for this UCL spinout company. It's also a timely message for the Chancellor.
Autolus was established in 2014 by founders including Dr Martin Pule at UCL’s Cancer Institute with the support of UCL Business and now employs 450 people with a global manufacturing centre in Stevenage, Hertfordshire. UCL Business worked with Dr Pule to protect his intellectual property, securing a suite of patents and supporting the company set-up process, including making introductions to potential investors.
With additional funding from a BBSRC Sparking Impact award, Autolus went on to secure £30m investment from venture capital firm Syncona, and Series B and C funding rounds were followed by an initial public offering on Nasdaq, which raised approximately £115m.
It is great to see that spinouts like Autolus are flourishing in the UK, in sectors as diverse as life sciences and AI.
Over the last ten years, 1,300 spinout companies from 91 UK universities have generated more than £20bn in investments and created nearly 29,000 jobs, mostly in the UK.
But for every spinout success, many more don’t make it, due to a funding gap known as the 'valley of death'. This is the gap between the moment academics exhaust research grants and the point where their invention or technology can attract private investment.
‘Proof Of Concept’ (PoC) funding is the vital bridge over this ‘valley of death’. This often-modest amount of time-limited funding supports researchers to develop their ideas, conduct feasibility studies and hone their business model, making their business far more attractive to investors.
Autolus’ success story started with just such a PoC grant.
This is why UCL Business established a £7.5m PoC fund to support UCL's academics on their first steps of commercialisation. And it’s also why Rachel Reeves committed in the Autumn Budget £9m over each of the next five years for PoC across all UK universities.
While that's welcome, you only need to look at some of our international competitors to see that the UK needs to take much bigger, bolder steps to unlock the full potential of our innovation ecosystem. In Belgium, for example, one university alone — KU Leuven — receives €20m PoC funding annually from the university’s regional government — more than all UK universities combined.
Back in the UK, we are building up to the Industrial Strategy and Spending Review. The former will likely underline the importance of life sciences. The latter will demonstrate the need for innovative growth solutions at a time of constrained finances.
What's clear is that Britain needs to significantly dial up PoC funding — otherwise, we risk missing the next Autolus. TenU, the group of leading technology transfer universities, is championing this and has convened a working group of experts from higher education, business and the venture capital sector to explore how, together, we can help make that a reality.
The hope is that the government will draw on our sector's expertise to develop a new collaborative and cost-effective approach to a much more ambitious national PoC fund.
Our universities’ world-leading research can not only save lives, but it can also attract investment, create jobs and turbo-charge growth. But we need policy solutions that match the ambition and creativity of our brilliant scientists.
Dr Anne Lane is CEO of UCL Business Ltd.
