Oxford Drug Design combines a validated computational and machine-learning platform with deep expertise in aminoacyl-tRNA synthetases to design and develop small-molecule cancer therapeutics. The company is a spinout of Oxford University and is led by CEO Alan D. Roth. Its platform is already in demand from third parties and is generating revenue separately from its internal oncology drug discovery programs. Oxford Drug Design intends to use the recent funding to run a proof-of-concept study to validate its cancer approach and to establish a commercial offering of its AI platform to pharmaceutical and biotech partners. The company will also apply the proceeds to operational purposes and further expansion ahead of a planned Series A later this year. The firm reports total grant and equity funding now exceeds £10M. Oxford Drug Design uses a proprietary suite of cheminformatics and chemistry-informed machine-learning technologies to discover novel classes of small-molecule aminoacyl-tRNA synthetase inhibitors. Its lead programme is a Dual-Target aminoacyl-tRNA Synthetase inhibitor (DaaRSi) project aimed at developing antibiotics effective against drug-resistant Gram-negative ESKAPE pathogens. The company has identified multiple compound series with a novel mode of interaction against the aminoacyl-tRNA synthetase target. Its dual-synthetase design strategy is intended to reduce the probability of resistance emerging. Oxford Drug Design intends to progress these compounds through hit-to-lead and optimization toward clinical development. The recent funding will also support continued development of its machine-learning platform to tackle other pharmaceutical targets.

Total raised

$12M

Funding rounds

4

Latest round

Equity

Latest activity

May 2022