Oxford Genetics secures multi-million pound contract

Oxford Genetics has secured a multi-million pound contract with a global ecommerce provider of reagents and tools to the research and clinical community.

Oxford Genetics is a leader in innovative synthetic biology-based technologies for biologics discovery, development and delivery with operations in the UK and US. It has significant expertise in DNA design, virus and protein-based biologics and cell lines, and is working with leading research, diagnostic and therapeutic companies and research institutes. The company's extensive use of hardware and software automation allows it to develop new and innovative solutions, the latest of which is its mammalian CRISPR cell line engineering platform.

Mercia, which holds a 40.6% equity stake in the business and has worked with OG since 2012, initially invested via its third-party managed funds before OG became a direct investment in December 2015. In the last 12 months the fast-growth biologics business has signed a number of out-licensing deals and agreements, and this deal is representative of a number of other high value third-party contracts currently under discussion and negotiation.

Ryan Cawood, Founder and CEO of Oxford Genetics, said: "The last year has been one of continued strong growth. This deal reflects our implementation of the solid foundations required to deliver scalable automated solutions in synthetic biology. Our ability to deliver hundreds of clonal cell lines at a cost-effective price, without sacrificing on quality, is clearly resonating with our customers. As we continue to scale we expect to capture a large part of this attractive and rapidly growing market."

Dr Mark Payton, Chief Executive Officer of Mercia Technologies and a non-executive director of Oxford Genetics, said: "OG is a good example of our promising direct investment portfolio of companies, many of which are now in revenue growth. The company has an extensive intellectual property estate coupled tightly with its global access to CRISPR technology. The growing quality and number of its clients is testament to the fact that the team is at the leading edge of synthetic biology innovation. I expect more positive developments from OG and a number of our other direct investments in the near to medium term."