EDEN RESEARCH PLC

Based at Milton Park in Oxfordshire, Eden Research is an Aim-quoted company helping farmers to sustainably produce high-value crops, improving crop yields and marketability.

It is estimated that a staggering 20-40 per cent of global crop production is lost to pests and disease each year. To counter this, farmers spend billions of dollars every year on products that help them protect their crops and keep up with food demand.

Pesticides are a critical component of effective crop protection. However, some conventional pesticides contain chemicals that may be harmful to human health or the environment. Consumers are also increasingly concerned about the potential impact of pesticide residues in the food they eat.

Eden is the UK’s only listed company focused on biopesticides for sustainable agriculture. It develops innovative biopesticide products and natural microencapsulation technologies to the

Enesi Pharma Ltd

“Getting a jab” is something we've all had to get used to recently. But ImplaVax from Oxford-based Enesi Pharma does away with the dreaded needle.

Almost all vaccines are administered in liquid or suspension form, using a needle and syringe.

Anxiety UK says up to 10 per cent of the population suffers from full-on needle phobia, but no-one really enjoys a shot in the arm.

Instead of injecting liquid deep into global crop protection, animal health and consumer products industries. the muscle, ImplaVax administers a solid dose implant just under the skin, using downward force pressure. The implant completely dissolves, releasing the vaccine and eliminating the risk of dosing errors

Its products, two of which are commercially available, are based on natural plant chemistry but deliver performance, ease of use and cost on par with conventional alternatives, the company says.

Biopesticides typically offer a lower risk solution but are still rigorously assessed before approval for sale. They are the fastest growing segment of the crop protection industry and their use has increased in recent years as older chemistry has been removed from the market due to consumer demands and consequent regulatory pressure.

And vaccines delivered by ImplaVax can be administered by individuals with little or no training.

Cold chain logistical issues like the ones seen during the coronavirus pandemic are also negated because of ImplaVax's thermal stability. UK clinics had to install cold storage facilities to administer some vaccines, but in developing countries the situation is far worse and logistical issues make vaccine delivery to remote communities impossible.

And, says Enesi, it's better for the environment as some components can be reused up to 1,000 times, unlike the traditional single-use syringe.

In October Enesi entered into an agreement with the US National Institutes of Health's National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases to test a novel ImplaVax enabled pandemic flu vaccine.

Evotec (UK) Ltd

Founded in Germany and with a major presence at Oxfordshire's Milton Park, Evotec is a drug discovery and development company. The company operates globally, largely through external alliances with pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies, academic institutions, patient advocacy groups, and venture capitalists.

The company's 2,000 plus employees work across a number of therapeutic areas including neurology (Alzheimer's and Huntington's Disease), metabolic diseases like diabetes, cancer and inflammatory and infectious diseases.

In late 2020 Evotec announced the expansion of its campus at Milton Park, naming its new discovery and development centre after Dorothy Crowfoot Hodgkin, the Nobel Prizewinning British chemist who advanced the technique of X-ray crystallography to determine the structure of biomolecules, which became essential for structural biology.

Evotec’s campus at Milton Park already benefits from the strong relationships and proximity with the Diamond Light Source at Harwell, making it a centre of excellence in structure-based drug design. The location also facilitates partnership opportunities in the Oxford and UK academic and biotech scene.

With more than 600 employees on site, the campus will became one of three fully integrated powerhouses of capacity, capabilities and know-how in integrated research and development along with those at Toulouse and Verona.

The wider company is also embracing artificial intelligence and machine learning to drive up the probability of success of its treatments and has partnered with the University of Bristol to expand its molecular patient database in the field of kidney diseases with a focus on nephrotic syndrome.

University of Bristol spin-out FluoretiQ is a medical device company designing simple but effective bacterial detection systems for rapid infection diagnosis.

Its proprietary diagnostic platform, Nanoplex, identifies bacterial infections in just 15 minutes – instead of the days traditional laboratory techniques can take.

Products built on the platform will enable doctors to confirm infection within minutes, stopping the use of incorrect and unnecessary prescription of antibiotics, says the start-up.

In February FluoretiQ announced the completion of a £1.1 million, pre-series A investment, which will enable the team to produce trial units of its first Nanoplex product, a 15-minute urinary tract infection diagnostic device.

Nanoplex says it provides laboratory quality results 200 times faster than laboratory analysis, helping clinicians meet antibiotic stewardship targets.

FluoretiQ’s products will be an important tool in the wake of reports showing that antimicrobial resistance is growing faster than expected.

In a report prepared for the government in 2014, antimicrobial resistance was predicted to reach 10 million cases by 2050 and exceed cancer as the leading cause of death across the world.