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Oxford Brookes Uni spinout MetaGuideX wins business innovation programme

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Oxford Brookes University spinout MetaGuideX wins business innovation programme
From L-R: Dr Edward Cole – IP & Commercialisation Manager, Oxford Brookes University, Manu Carollo – Entrepreneurial lead, MetaGuideX, Dr Ryan Pink – Chief Executive Officer, MetaGuideX, Prof Dave Carter – Chief Scientific Officer, MetaGuideX

MetaGuideX, an innovative cancer diagnostics company established as a spin-out business from Oxford Brookes University, has won the 2020 Oxford Academic Health Science Network’s Accelerator programme.

The company was identified from eight start-ups as a promising solution to the NHS and UK life science’s needs with its novel breast cancer diagnostic, which could potentially save patients from unnecessary surgery and chemotherapy. MetaGuideX is now beginning to implement its business strategy and is open to investment to develop its radical new cancer diagnostic tool, which could hugely improve patient management.

The Oxford AHSN Accelerator, delivered by BioCity, guided eight innovative start-ups as they tested whether their product is a good fit for the target markets. Due to restrictions imposed by the Covid-19 pandemic, this year’s programme ran entirely virtually, with sessions and online support provided by the BioCity platform and their team of mentors.

A tool to improve the lives of women with breast cancer

At the end of November, the eight start-ups presented their progress and pitched their proposals for future investment to a panel of experts from the Oxford AHSN, BioCity and industry. The MetaGuideX pitch, led by Dr Ryan Pink (CEO) and Prof Dave Carter (CSO), presented insights into how their novel breast cancer diagnostic can potentially save patients from unnecessary surgery and chemotherapy, improving patient outcomes and bringing cost savings to the NHS. MetaGuideX were crowned as the winning team.

MetaGuideX’s CEO, Dr Ryan Pink, said: “We were confident that MetaGuideX had a diagnostic product that could improve the lives of women with breast cancer, but we were not sure of the best way to place it into the healthcare system. The Oxford AHSN Accelerator took us on an exciting and challenging journey to explore the current healthcare landscape. Thanks to the Accelerator programme, we now have a better set of tools and a clear strategy on how best to position our diagnostic to maximise the benefit to both patients and their clinicians.”

A promising new venture

Dr Paul Durrands, Chief Operating Officer of the Oxford AHSN, said: “In a challenging year for all innovators, it is testament to the commitment and hard work of all the companies that they’ve successfully completed this second Oxford AHSN Accelerator Programme. The progress that each company made over the programme, in an entirely virtual environment, was amazing to see.”

Toby Reid, BioCity CEO, said: “The ventures which took part in the Accelerator programme were of the highest calibre. Our partnership with Oxford AHSN is based upon a shared goal of supporting life science innovation at a regional level; MetaGuideX is a fantastic example of such innovation. We are very pleased to support MetaGuideX as they continue their business development journey and to see what the future holds for this promising new venture.”

This news follows on from the success of MetaGuideX in the Innovation to Commercialisation of University Research (ICURe) discovery programme in March this year. They received £210,000 to spin out the technology from Oxford Brookes University and are now seeking seed investment to match fund this.

About MetaGuideX Ltd
https://metaguidex.com
MetaGuideX is a spin-out company of Oxford Brookes University developing a radical new cancer diagnostic tool, which could hugely improve patient management by potentially saving patients from unnecessary surgery and chemotherapy. They were awarded £210K in non-diluting funding from Innovate UK to establish a spinout company in Oxford and are now looking for investors and partners to join them.

About The Oxford AHSN Accelerator Programme
The Oxford AHSN Accelerator programme, delivered by BioCity, offers a unique launchpad for innovators with an idea they want to bring to market. If you have a great innovation that will have an impact on health quality outcomes, the programme can help you develop it. The Accelerator will guide you on developing your business path and help you discover fast-track routes to funding for commercialisation, scale-up and impact.

About Oxford Academic Health Science Network
https://www.oxfordahsn.org
The Oxford Academic Health Science Network (Oxford AHSN) gets innovation into clinical practice to improve patient safety, outcomes and experience, and generate economic growth through collaboration between the NHS, industry and universities. Part of the national AHSN Network, it covers a region of three million people living in Berkshire, Buckinghamshire, Milton Keynes and Oxfordshire.

About Biocity
https://biocity.co.uk/
Home to more than 200 companies, BioCity is a pioneering life science incubator and business collective that takes a holistic approach to business support. It offers entrepreneur coaching, investment, flexible lab and office space and PAYG services within a UK-wide business collective. BioCity was founded in 2002 by the University of Nottingham and Nottingham Trent University and has made several investments in early-stage companies.

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