A Scottish biotechnology company specialising in anti-viral treatments has flagged its intention to raise further investment ahead of a possible stock market flotation.
Based at the BioCity facility in Motherwell, ILC Therapeutics is developing hybrid interferon drugs that are said to be potential "game-changers" in combatting viruses responsible Covid, respiratory syncytial virus (RSV), HIV, hepatitis, and other major pathogens.
Set up in 2012 by University of Strathclyde immunology professor Bill Stimson, ILC is led by chief executive Alan Walker, a former vice president of global commercial operations at ProStrakan. The company is currently preparing its lead Alfacyte product for manufacture in Belgium later this year, before moving towards Clinical Trial Authorisation (CTA) in 2024.
READ MORE: International cash for Scottish Covid firm
Mr Walker said ILC is planning to embark on a Series A investment round within the next twelve months, having previously raised £5.5 million in two separate funding rounds in 2021 and 2022. The company is understood to be looking for approximately £5m in fresh investment.
“We have achieved significant milestones over the last twelve months, which have enabled us to move rapidly towards our next phase of growth," he said.
"Coupled with [venture capital] and M&A activity elsewhere in the sector, we believe the timing is opportune to engage with the UK and international investor community around supporting our strategic plan and growth prospects through a Series A round that could be followed by a stock market flotation.”
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Alfacyte is currently in development as an anti-viral medicine for the treatment of upper respiratory tract viral infections (RVIs), including SARS-CoV-2 which causes Covid-19.
READ MORE: Foreign money feeds Scotland's flourishing life sciences sector
ILC is also testing a second product, Dermacyte, for the treatment of atoptic dermatitis, the most common form of eczema and psoriasis in human skin and canines. The company is entering a research and development partnership with an international veterinary group to develop its Caniferon product to treat atopic dermatitis in dogs.
The research and development team has been expanded with the appointment of Dr Owain Millington as head of preclinical development, who has a long career in life sciences leadership teams. He joins professor Stimson, ILC's chief scientific officer and founder of the department of immunology at the University of Strathclyde, and Dr Dawn Firmin, head of technical operations.
The company is chaired by Peter Bains, who has more than three decades of leadership experience in the biopharmaceutical industry including a 20-year career with GSK.
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