SME of the Month May - Cardiff Protides Ltd.

Main activities of the company 
Drug design, synthesis and evaluation for leukaemia and solid tumours.

Total number of people employed
1 full time 4 part time

Company start date
May 2005

History of the Company
The Welsh School of Pharmacy lab have a long standing (>10 yr) interest in the delivery of charged bio-active nucleotides into cells and have a particular expertise in its application to antiviral drug discovery.  This has included major license deals to e.g. GSK and Roche.  Recently the lab have discovered that the technology could be applied to cancer and we filed 2 patent applications which attracted experienced managers to help the spinout.

Key Activities Starting and Growing the Company 
Day to day science management at Cardiff University by Prof Chris McGuigan, CSO.  Monthly board meetings with Dr. Bob Nolan (Chairman), Dr Jon Dickens (CEO) and Mr Anthony Newman plus Dr Nick Bourne (Cardiff University).
The Business plan was created and revised (2007) by the Board.
The Company have two separate patent families each of which is progression.  Our strategy has been a combination of service deals/buying.  Initial IP costs were met by Cardiff University's commercial division.  The company has signed two research and collaboration deals with Morvus Technologies Ltd. as part of a KEP CIRP Award of 225K Stlg in June 2006.  Another deal is close to completion (May 2007).

Wet lab space has been accessed under commercial terms at Cardiff University, School of Pharmacy. 

The main obstacles to growth were investment and FEC.

What the future holds
The acquisition of Cardiff University's equity in the company by Biofusion has generated expanded opportunities for early growth.  Possible merger and IPO listings are being pursued.