Launch of Aquila BioMedical announced by the Edinburgh BioQuarter
The Edinburgh BioQuarter has recently announced the launch of Aquila BioMedical, a specialised contract research organisation that provides novel technologies to the pharmaceutical industry for drug discovery and development.
Aquila BioMedical offers services across four therapeutic areas: MS, immunology, inflammation and analgesia. Combining academic excellence with access to innovative technologies, delivered under industrial conditions, Aquila will provide clients with high-value data to enable decisions on new compounds earlier in the development process.
These technologies are based on the pioneering work of Edinburgh Infectious Diseases member Professor Stephen Anderton at the Centre for Inflammation Research, Queen's Medical Research Institute, with funds from a Scottish Enterprise SMART:Scotland award.
Aquila has been granted an exclusive licence from the University of Edinburgh to a unique platform of drug testing technologies for multiple sclerosis and autoimmune disease. We will continue to develop new services to offer clients access to academic models not readily available from other industry providers.
We recently welcomed Dr Alison Templeton as our first Non-Executive Director. Alison has long experience in setting up highly successful service offerings in this sector and will be a great advisor as our company grows. Over the next year, we plan to further strengthen the board with experience in strategic sales, corporate development and financing. We have also recently expanded our shareholder base with the addition of the University of Edinburgh and the Wellcome Trust.
The pharmaceutical industry is under increasing pressure from investors to deliver results more accurately and faster than was previously possible. Aquila’s proprietary technologies provide pharma companies with access to specialised scientific assays in an outsourcing model that will deliver a step change in the rate of compound development through early incorporation of efficacy data. We’re pleased to welcome Aquila to the growing family of BioQuarter spin-outs.