Oxford spinout Orbit Discovery launches peptide-discovery platform

Orbit Discovery - a new spinout from the University of Oxford - has raised seed funding to commercialise technology which will help to identify targeted, affordable therapeutic drugs known as peptides. Oxford Sciences Innovation, the £320m investment company established to provide capital and scaling expertise to Oxford spinouts, is the lead investor in the new company. Other investors include the Oxford Technology and Innovations EIS Fund led by George Robinson and the OT(S)EIS fund managed by Oxford Technology management, which has been making science investments around Oxford for 30 years. Orbit Discovery will establish a screening platform to identify robust peptide drug candidates for both internal industry drug discovery programs and via collaborative research. The technology was developed at Oxford's Weatherall Institute of Molecular Medicine by Professor Graham Ogg and Professor Terence Rabbitts. Orbit CEO Alex Batchelor said: 'Peptides offer several advantages as drugs. They are small enough to be delivered in tablet form, are highly specific and have safe degradation products.