Founder and CEO of Sensyne Health to leave company

The founder and CEO of Sensyne Health plc – former Labour science and innovation minister Lord Paul Drayson – is to leave the company.

Life peer Lord Drayson, who founded the company in 2018 to speed up the role of artificial intelligence in healthcare data, will be replaced as CEO by Alex Snow, who recently stepped down as chairman of AI drug discovery company Exscientia.

In a statement to shareholders, Oxford Science Park-based Sensyne Health said: "Alex is an experienced entrepreneur with extensive experience and a proven track record in both finance and the commercialisation of world-leading science through public-private partnerships in the UK."

Following reports that Sensyne was running out of money, the struggling firm said it had secured £15 million of funding to continue from Gatemore Capital Management LLP, Lansdowne Partners LLP, Sand Grove Capital Management LLP and Peel Hunt LLP.

Alex Snow will take up the position of CEO on completion of the deal, said the statement to the London Stock Exchange.

"Whilst the Board believes the financing will proceed to completion shortly, without it the Company is unlikely to be able to continue to trade beyond this month," said Sensyne.

Prof Sir Bruce Keogh, Chairman of Sensyne Health, said: "I am grateful to the Noteholders for their continued support in providing this financing, despite the difficulties the business has faced over the past few months.

"This financing provides both the certainty of a future for Sensyne as an independent life sciences-focused business and the opportunity to conclude the ongoing FSP.

"We will of necessity need to reduce our cost base and propose changes at a future general meeting that will have a significant impact on our shareholders' interests.

"We are pleased to welcome Alex Snow, whose experience in life sciences AI and capital-raising credentials will be invaluable as he leads Sensyne through the next stage of its development.

"The Board wishes to thank Lord Drayson for his tireless commitment to the Company and its aim to realise the potential of clinical AI to revolutionise healthcare in partnership with the NHS and international health systems.

"His vision has set the standard for how healthcare providers like the NHS can benefit from the analysis of health data in a transparent, ethical and fair way."

Alex Snow said: "I have been fascinated by the role of data within the healthcare industry for many years, and increasingly see the importance of real-world patient data in this landscape.

"Sensyne Health has developed significant relationships with meaningful NHS Trusts and has already started to build a first class common data platform for the analysis of multimodal and longitudinal anonymised patient data records, which in recent months has evolved to industrial scale.

"It also has a first-class team focused on this platform.

"I am looking forward to working with this team and cementing our relationships with our NHS Trust partners as we build out our platform and accelerate our capability to support the life sciences industry in driving value from this real-world patient data."

Lord Drayson, who lives at Nether Lypiatt Manor near Stroud, the former home of Prince Michael of Kent, said: "It has been a privilege to build Sensyne Health. I am proud of the team of talented and committed people that work at Sensyne and what we have created together.

"We pioneered a new model for the ethical use of AI and patient data and have proven that it improves outcomes for patients and accelerates medical research.

"Under my leadership the Company secured key partnerships with the NHS, US health systems and the life sciences industry, built a database of over 48 million anonymised patient records and won awards for its innovative AI enabled software that has helped care for millions of patients across the UK.

"I am pleased that the Company has secured the finance to build on this foundation and that the new CEO and Noteholders have committed to maintain the mission and values of the Company that I founded. I wish Sensyne Health and its staff every success in the future."