Medicines Discovery Catapult (MDC), a UK drug-discovery innovation center, is backing two early-stage British biotechs with novel approaches to some of medicine’s biggest chronic-disease challenges. Each company receives £500,000 from Innovate UK plus access to MDC’s translational expertise and partner network.
Flip Therapeutics
Flip is developing a T-cell reprogramming platform that uses nanoparticle delivery to convert disease-driving T cells into anti-inflammatory ones — inside the body. Its targets: psoriasis, alopecia areata, and other chronic autoimmune and inflammatory diseases (which affect roughly 1 in 10 people in the UK). “This combination of financial support and access to expertise gives us the opportunity to execute the experiments that matter most,” said CEO David Pajerowski.
Nascent Therapeutics
Nascent is pursuing a strikingly different idea: a mitochondrial-transfer platform that uses cellular structures called tunneling nanotubes to restore mitochondrial function (a cell’s energy supply) in aging and disease. Its potential targets span Parkinson’s, Alzheimer’s, COPD, osteoporosis, cancer and other age-related conditions. “MDC have been highly supportive and engaged investors from the outset,” said CEO Stuart Wood.
Why it matters
Both companies are early-stage, but their approaches — in vivo immune reprogramming and mitochondrial restoration — reflect where cutting-edge biology is heading. Government-backed translational funding like this helps promising academic science bridge the notoriously difficult gap to real drug development.