University of Leeds spinout firm Adsilico, a computational medicine company, has received an investment boost to scale up its ground-breaking work.
Northern Gritstone and Parkwalk Advisors have announced a combined £3.5 million investment into the company.
Adsilico is developing an end-to-end in-silico trials (IST) solution based on virtual “synthetic” patient populations that will provide better and safer medical devices earlier to patients.
ISTs use modelling and simulation to produce scientific evidence of device performance and safety, before testing in human clinical trials.
It will reduce costs and accelerate research and development timescales for medical device developers, while reducing animal experimentation and partially replacing costly and potentially harmful human trials.
Based on research funded by the Royal Academy of Engineering at the University of Leeds’ Schools of Medicine and Computing, Adsilico has developed an IST technique that combines multiple data sources and uses generative AI to create synthetic populations on a scale ideal for clinical trials.
Northern Gritstone’s investment of £2 million sits alongside £1.5 million from co-investor Parkwalk Advisors.
Professor Alejandro Frangi, founder of Adsilico, said: “Medical devices follow a lengthy evaluation with a tiny amount of scientific evidence currently derived from computer modelling and simulation.
“The cost is ever-increasing, delaying life-saving benefits to patients.
“Northern Gritstone’s and Parkwalk’s investment and support will enable Adsilico to offer a scalable solution to the medical device market to produce evidence on an unprecedented scale.”
Professor Nick Plant, Deputy Vice-Chancellor: Research and Innovation at the University of Leeds, said: “This funding will help to redefine the development of medical devices, enhancing performance and safety with more certainty and speed, and most importantly, prior to human testing.
“It is a further testament to Leeds’ pioneering approach and strength in driving innovation to accelerate the adoption of new health technologies, delivering improvements and impact directly to healthcare professionals and patients.”
Northern Gritstone — the investment company launched in 2021 by the Universities of Leeds, Manchester and Sheffield — is dedicated to supporting science and technology-enabled businesses in the North of England, including spinouts from its founding university partners.
Northern Gritstone CEO Duncan Johnson said: “Computational modelling has the potential to revolutionise the MedTech industry and reduce the risks to humans.
“Northern Gritstone is delighted to support adsilico’s team, who once again demonstrate that great science and technology-enabled businesses are being created in the North of England.”
Parkwalk Advisors CEO Moray Wright said: “We are proud to be backing adsilico through this seed funding round. adsilico’s pioneering approach to in-silico trials has potential to significantly accelerate the pace of innovation in medical device development.
“It’s fantastic to see this university spin-out take another step forward on its vision to bring safer and more efficient medical devices”.