Northern Gritstone, the life sciences and deeptech investment firm, has announced a commitment to invest £1.8 million into Apini, a small molecule drug development programme being advanced by Syncona’s accelerator Slingshot Therapeutics.
Spun out of the University of Manchester, and supported by the university’s Innovation Factory, Apini is developing a novel small molecule for the treatment of chronic inflammatory diseases. Potential indications include Crohn’s disease and Ulcerative Colitis, the two most common forms of inflammatory bowel disease (IBD), which affects as many as 10 million people worldwide. Apini is looking to address the significant unmet need in this area of medicine through targeted modulation of eNAMPT, an enzyme implicated in multiple inflammatory conditions.
Preclinical studies demonstrate the potential for selective eNAMPT modulators to treat various inflammatory diseases without inducting immune suppression.
Apini was founded by Professor Sam Butterworth, who is world-renowned for his work in the invention of Tagrisso, a life-saving anti-cancer drug for EGFR mutant lung cancer that is used globally.
Slingshot was built by Syncona with an initial commitment of £12.5 million to identify and advance de-risked therapeutic programmes from the work of leading academic researchers. Apini is the first company to work with Slingshot, following its launch in November 2024, with Northern Gritstone becoming the first co-investor.
Apini’s funding from Northern Gritstone and Syncona will be delivered over three tranches tied to company milestones, with the original commitment unchanged in value.
Northern Gritstone chief executive, Duncan Johnson, said: “Apini is based on the groundbreaking drug development work of Professor Sam Butterworth from the University of Manchester, and is a fantastic example of life sciences company creation based on world-class research. We’re delighted to invest in Apini, alongside Syncona, and with the support of the Slingshot accelerator”
Professor Butterworth added: “This investment from Northern Gritstone supports Apini’s mission to treat inflammatory diseases without the induction of immune suppression. We look forward to advancing and accelerating the Apini programme which we believe can bring meaningful improvements to patients across a broad range of chronic inflammatory diseases.”
Executive chair of Slingshot, Edward Hodgkin, said: “We are delighted to welcome Northern Gritstone as an investment partner for Apini, with the investment providing further validation of this novel programme. We believe that Slingshot’s expertise and operational support has the ability to accelerate exceptional academic science, like Apini, into attractive biotech assets that can quickly and effectively transform into groundbreaking treatments for patients.”
