Nucleome Therapeutics Ltd.

Former UK prime minister Rishi Sunak recently warned in The Times that Britain risks “squandering its brilliance in biotech.” With British Science Week underway, In Vivo spoke to UK biotech companies and investors to see whether they agreed. We also asked what the government and private sector must do to strengthen the industry, how the UK can compete with China, and what the country’s biotech landscape should look like by 2030. The sobering consensus is this: “Yes, Rishi Sunak is right.” A plethora of problems are stunting the industry. Matthew Fyfe, chief scientific officer, Outrun Therapeutics, a Dundee / Oxford preclinical biotech focused on protein stabilisation, said: “Mr Sunak is correct: a paucity of funding in early stage biotech has led to a swathe of redundancies in the last two years, which could lead to considerable talent loss from the sector and the country, while the value of UK-discovered assets is consistently being realised elsewhere.” Naveed Siddiqi, senior partner, Novo Holdings Venture Investments, which is invested in numerous UK life science firms large and small, highlighted the “massive funding gap” faced by UK and other European biotechs compared to US firms. “Less than £100m was raised by publicly listed life science companies in the UK last year according to UK’s Biotech Industry Association. We are seeing regular de-listings among the small number of listed biotech companies because they cannot raise capital on UK exchanges, and there have been no such IPOs for the last 3 years,” he said. “The picture is the same across Europe’s exchanges. This is where a massive funding gap sits. By contrast in 2025, the US raised more than $15bn in medtech and biotech IPOs and over $35bn in follow-on offerings.” However, Neil Murray, CEO, of Liverpool-based pneumococcal vaccine developer ReNewVax, believed Mr Sunak’s analysis was all a bit rich, coming from a former PM. He remarked: “Sadly, Britain’s ‘brilliance in biotech’ has been squandered by successive governments for at least the last 20 years. There has never been a cohesive strategy for life sciences.” Public investment is necessary – but that’s far from the whole story. Creating an environment that encourages small firms to stay and rewards those who take risks is central. Maina Bhaman, partner of Paris, London and Milan based life sciences VC, Sofinnova Partners, which invests heavily in British life sciences firms, said government must “make the UK the most attractive place in Europe to build and scale a biotech company.” She explained: “That means competitive tax incentives, smarter regulation, and policies that attract global scientific and entrepreneurial talent. Growth policy, not just funding, is the real differentiator.” Jeremy Skillington, of AIM-listed Poolbeg Pharma, which is developing a treatment for cytokine release syndrome, said ministers should work to deepen the pool of “risk capital” available. He said: “Spin-outs are emerging at a rapid rate but funding is limiting. Not every company will succeed but each company deserves a chance to succeed.” Jane Rhodes, CEO, of London-based AstronauTx, which is developing treatments for Alzheimer’s and other neurological disorders by improving sleep architecture, suggested: “Pass legislation that creates a more permissive environment for investment in early stage biotechnology companies – specifically the growth phase, when substantial investment is required to enable clinical development of innovative new therapies.” Novo Holdings’ Siddiqi was not alone in highlighting the importance of fostering functioning public markets. He said: “The UK government needs to factor in mobilising more capital to back the few existing specialist public fund managers and help seed new ones. “We sorely need specialist public market participants who can invest in, provide liquidity for, and support UK and European biotech companies as they raise the scale-up capital required to build a robust sector in Europe.” Reuben Dawkins, co-founder & CEO of London’s Link Biologics, developing protein biologics for inflammatory and tissue-degenerative conditions, proposed: “Push the Mansion House Accord further to ensure pension capital is deployed into growth-stage companies, because Phase II and III trial execution is where the multiplier happens.” “Embrace risk,” said AstronauTx’s Rhodes – an attitude shared by many, who said risk avoidance was holding UK plc back. She continued: “Biotechnology is a high risk, high reward endeavour – and failures will not only happen but will accelerate learnings and enable the next success.” Outrun’s Fyfe seconded Rhodes: “Think like Americans: be less risk averse and more ambitious.” However, Bhavna Hunjan, chief business officer of Oxford-based Nucleome Therapeutics, which is tackling the molecular causes of inflammatory diseases through a breakthrough approach to 3D human genetics, had a useful rejoinder: perhaps we need less risky ways of investing in (famously risky) biotech. To “broaden investor participation,” she suggested “introducing instruments with differentiated risk-return profiles to align with diverse risk appetites”. Dawkins of Link thought a mirror would come in handy. “When [investment] decisions go elsewhere, we need to say why, transparently and loudly,” he said. “An honest feedback loop is a powerful contribution to fixing the ecosystem.” Meanwhile, Sofinnova’s Bhaman said British firms should think bigger. “Build companies with global intent from day one,” she said. “The private sector must match scientific excellence with operational ambition.” China’s growing legions of biotechs, with their ability to set up and execute clinical trials at pace and low cost, has been a stand-out story recently. How can British firms compete? UK companies shouldn’t try to compete head-on, but rather play to Britain’s biotech strengths. Nucleome’s Hunjan said: “The UK should recognise complementarity rather than pursue competition. Each ecosystem has structural strengths. China’s advantage is in rapid execution and manufacturing scale, while the UK’s strengths are in deep biological innovation rooted in academic depth and NHS integration.” Murray, of ReNewVax, added: “It’s difficult to compete across the playing field. That doesn’t mean that we can’t compete in specific areas. However, in any competitive situation, it’s about focusing on your strengths and minimising or eliminating your weaknesses.” Sofinnova’s Bhaman said: “We cannot outspend China, but we can outcompete through agility. Faster regulatory decisions, better use of NHS data, strong AI integration, and policies that attract global talent will determine competitiveness. Speed, clarity, and execution matter more than scale alone.” Poolbeg’s Skillington said Britain needed to stay in the fray: “China is executing with coordinated urgency and generating impressive and statistically significant clinical data. The UK needs to follow suit.” Given the many challenges facing UK biotechs, some thought 2030 was too short a timeframe in which to imagine an ideal future. Murray consequently set the bar low: “Four years is not a long time – but surely we could have a cohesive strategy in place by then?” Others were more upbeat. Rhodes said she wanted the UK “to be a thriving ecosystem where the best minds are trained in the business of biotechnology, where graduate level jobs are plentiful, our expertise in areas like regulatory science continue to be world leading and where company growth is not constrained by the financing environment.” Fyfe painted a similar picture of “a thriving ecosystem” which can “compete on a level playing field with US and Chinese biotechs”. Henning Steinhagen, CEO of Edinburgh’s Lario Therapeutics, which is developing first-in-class precision medicines for epileptic and neurological disorders, said Britain should “play to its strengths” in genomics and encourage “UK-focused patient capital” to nurture growth. Finally, Bhaman said incentives must be put in place so that the talented, risk-taking individuals who start biotechs stand to benefit. “By 2030, the UK should be the most founder-friendly biotech market in Europe: fast regulatory pathways, deep talent pools, strong clinical infrastructure and tax policies that reward innovation,” she said. “Companies should choose to scale from the UK because it is the most competitive place to grow.

First-in-class monoclonal antibody agonist programme for inflammation resolution with broad applicability across major chronic inflammatory diseases Evolution of Nucleome's non-coding genetics platform reveals further groundbreaking insights into disease areas of high unmet need OXFORD, England, 07 January 2026 /PRNewswire/ -- Nucleome Therapeutics ('Nucleome' or 'the Company'), a company tackling the molecular causes of inflammatory diseases through a breakthrough approach to 3D human genetics, provides an R&D update following the nomination of a preclinical development candidate for its lead first-in-class programme, NTP464. The programme will progress towards IND enabling studies from its discovery platform. Dr. Mark Bodmer, CEO of Nucleome, said: "2025 marked a year of great progress for Nucleome, both for our genetics discovery technology and pipeline. Our lab-based technology, Micro Capture-C (MCC), combined with strategic deployment of machine learning and other computational methods has advanced genetics to an unprecedented level by deciphering patterns of gene regulation from the 3D architecture of the genome. This has redefined what genetic variation can reveal about disease, for both drug target discovery and stratification of patient populations. "We have created the most comprehensive physical map of molecular mechanisms in inflammatory disease and continue to enhance this with emerging data. This means we can now uncover causal drivers of disease in humans, in areas of the greatest unmet patient need. The nomination of our first development candidate, NTP464, is a major step forward for Nucleome and is a powerful example of what is possible when our cutting-edge platform intersects with therapeutic design." NTP464 candidate nomination The target of NTP464 is a novel inflammation checkpoint identified using Nucleome's proprietary suite of genetic approaches. Through understanding how genetic variation in patients suffering from autoimmune disease impacts the physical 3D interactions with protein-coding genes, Nucleome has uncovered a profound multi-cellular orchestrator of inflammation resolution with potential to move beyond current advanced therapeutics. The core mechanism of the target that acts to resolve inflammation in healthy individuals becomes dysregulated in patients with autoimmune diseases such as rheumatoid arthritis (RA), systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE), and inflammatory bowel disease (IBD). The novel monoclonal agonist antibody nominated as preclinical development candidate has excellent potency, selectivity and developability characteristics. NTP464 has demonstrated efficacy in multiple preclinical in vitro assays, including a compelling combination of inhibiting B cell, T cell and macrophage activation and promoting Treg suppressive activities. The programme offers a new principle in the treatment of inflammatory diseases and will now progress towards IND enabling studies. World leading innovation in non-coding genetics Significant advances in both the experimental and computational arms of Nucleome's proprietary technology have resulted in a leap in capabilities: interactions between the promotors of every gene in the genome and all their regulatory elements can now be measured to base-pair precision in a single experiment. The Company's application of this technology to inflammatory diseases has resulted in a precise and comprehensive atlas of the molecular drivers of these diseases, informed by human non-coding genetics. This type of insight into gene regulation has historically remained elusive. Through analysing this proprietary data, Nucleome has built a methodology that enables prioritisation of target-indication pairs based on predicted probability of clinical success. Amongst a large number of novel targets, the Company also identified the targets of successfully marketed drugs, providing retrospective evidence based on known clinical outcomes that this new approach is relevant to treatment of disease. The novel targets drawn from this atlas that meet Nucleome's high thresholds of genetic support, are predicted to be significantly more likely to be clinically successful than those without such genetic support. Nucleome is mining this proprietary atlas to build a pipeline of first-in-class genetically identified targets as well as revealing mechanistically defined patient subgroups within and across multiple inflammatory disease indications. Nucleome's core principle is that human genetics unlocks the key to the development of more successful therapies - linking the right target to the right patient via the right mechanism. Protecting Nucleome's innovation Nucleome's proprietary technology is covered by a robust and extensive patent portfolio that protects the value of its uniquely innovative platform in commercially relevant markets. Several new patents granted in 2025 protect MCC and Nucleome's proprietary 'Variant Functional Validation' (VFV) technologies. New patent applications are continuously considered and filed to protect advances in technology and compositions of matter for the Company's drug candidates. Notes to Editors About Nucleome Therapeutics Nucleome is an immunology company tackling the root causes of disease through a revolutionary new approach to solving human genetics. Nucleome has a deep molecular understanding of the function and importance of the non-coding genome and how variation within it causes disease. The Company has created transformative 3D genomics technology to link disease-associated genetic variants with the genes they dysregulate in disease. At the core of this, is the ability to read 3D interactions in the non-coding genome with a precision and scale that is unique in both industry and academia. Nucleome is the first company to build at scale a rich data atlas of immune system dysregulation identified from human disease genetics, allowing it to elucidate the mechanistic basis of disease, identify hundreds of novel targets and group patients by their common, mechanistic disease drivers. The Company is building a pipeline of genetically identified therapeutics to restore health in inflammatory diseases, with lead programme, NTP464, in pre-clinical development. Nucleome is backed by a world-class syndicate of investors: M Ventures, the venture capital arm of Merck KGaA; Johnson and Johnson Innovation - JJDC, Inc. ("JJDC"); Pfizer Ventures; British Business Bank and founding investor Oxford Science Enterprises. Visit the website to find out more at: SOURCE Nucleome Therapeutics 21% more press release views with Request a Demo

Groundbreaking research using Nucleome MCC technology reveals complex structure of DNA inside living cells at base pair resolution for the first time, pioneering a new approach to identify new drug targets from human genetics OXFORD, England, Nov. 6, 2025 /PRNewswire/ -- Nucleome Therapeutics ('Nucleome' or 'the Company'), an immunology company tackling the root causes of disease through a revolutionary new approach to solving human genetics, is delighted that its founder, Professor James Davies and his team at the Weatherall Institute of Molecular Medicine, Oxford University have published a paper in Cell. The paper, "Mapping chromatin structure at base-pair resolution unveils a unified model of cis-regulatory element interactions" demonstrates the most detailed view yet of how DNA folds and functions inside living cells. This reveals the intricate structure of the genome which can be used to decode the regulation of gene expression at scale to identify new drug targets. Nucleome has an exclusive license from Oxford University to the technology known as Micro Capture-C (MCC). MCC physically identifies the contacts between regulatory elements in the non-coding genome and the genes they control. Regulatory elements are often at some distance along the chromosome sequence from their gene they regulate. The two come together in the folded 3D structure of chromatin in the cell nucleus. Nucleome has applied MCC to decipher the molecular basis of inflammatory diseases from thousands of non-coding disease-associated genetic variants in patients. Dr. Mark Bodmer, CEO of Nucleome, commented: "Congratulations to James and his team at Oxford on this groundbreaking work. Using MCC technology, for the first time it has been possible to see 3D interactions in the nucleus inside the cell at base pair resolution. This gives us a new way of looking at how genetic variation in the human genome causes disease. At Nucleome, we are applying this transformative technology to solve the molecular basis of inflammatory diseases. This has enabled us to discover hundreds of novel drug targets and to define molecular endotypes of complex diseases based on genetic variation in patients. We are using this knowledge to buid a pipeline of therapeutics to restore health in inflammatory diseases." Full Press Release from Oxford University: Oxford scientists capture genome's structure in unprecedented detail Scientists at the MRC Weatherall Institute of Molecular Medicine, University of Oxford, have achieved the most detailed view yet of how DNA folds and functions inside living cells, revealing the physical structures that control when and how genes are switched on. Using a new technique called MCC ultra, the team mapped the human genome down to a single base pair, unlocking how genes are controlled, or, how the body decides which genes to turn on or off at the right time, in the right cells. This breakthrough gives scientists a powerful new way to understand how genetic differences lead to disease and opens up fresh routes for drug discovery. 'For the first time, we can see how the genome's control switches are physically arranged inside cells, said Professor James Davies, lead author of the study. 'This changes our understanding of how genes work and how things go wrong in disease. We can now see how changes in the intricate structure of DNA leads to conditions like heart disease, autoimmune disorders and cancer.' For more than two decades, scientists have known the full sequence of the human genome — the three billion "letters" of DNA that make up our genetic code. But exactly how that code folds and functions inside the cell has remained largely hidden. Each cell's DNA, about two metres long, is tightly packed into a microscopic space one-hundredth of a millimetre across. Within this space, the DNA constantly bends and loops, bringing distant sections into contact. These 3D structures are crucial because they determine which genes are active or silent, much like how a circuit board determines which switches are connected and which are not. Until now, researchers could only view these interactions at relatively low resolution. The new Oxford method captures them down to a single base pair - the smallest unit of DNA - offering a truly molecular view of gene control. This level of detail matters because over 90% of genetic changes linked to common diseases lie not within genes themselves, but in the "switch" regions that regulate them. The ability to see how these switches are organised gives scientists a new framework for identifying where gene regulation goes wrong and how it might be corrected. 'We now have a tool that lets us study how genes are controlled in exquisite detail,' said Hangpeng Li, the doctoral researcher who led the experimental work. 'That's a critical step toward understanding what goes wrong in disease, and what might be done to fix it.' The Oxford team also collaborated with Professor Rosana Collepardo-Guevara at the University of Cambridge, whose computer simulations confirmed that the folding patterns observed arise naturally from the physical properties of DNA and its packaging proteins. Together, the scientists propose a new model of gene regulation in which cells use electromagnetic forces to bring DNA control sequences to the surface, where they cluster into "islands" of gene activity. These structures, which were previously invisible, appear to be a fundamental mechanism for how cells read their genetic instructions. The research, published this week in Cell, represents a major advance in molecular genetics, providing a foundation for future studies into how changes in genome structure cause disease. The work was funded by the Medical Research Council and the Lister Institute, with support for translation into new therapies from the Wellcome Trust and the NIHR Oxford Biomedical Research Centre. It forms part of a growing UK effort to move beyond sequencing the genome to truly understanding how it works in space and time. Notes to Editors About Nucleome Therapeutics Nucleome is using breakthrough genomics technologies to discover first-in-class antibody therapeutics for inflammatory diseases. The approach is based solely on human disease genetics and biology. Nucleome is able, for the first time, to reveal molecular mechanisms of disease and select drug targets using human genetic variants in the non-coding genome that alter gene expression. The Company's proprietary 3D genomics combines lab and machine learning technologies which can be applied to any set of disease-associated variants. Lead program NTP464 is an antibody that activates an inflammation checkpoint. NTP464 stimulates natural cellular processes of inflammation resolution, a new principle in the treatment of inflammation with huge potential patient benefit. Other multiple targets based on the genetics of inflammatory diseases are in discovery. Nucleome is backed by a world-class syndicate of investors: M Ventures, the venture capital arm of Merck KGaA; Johnson and Johnson Innovation - JJDC, Inc. ("JJDC"); Pfizer Ventures; British Business Bank and founding investor Oxford Science Enterprises. Visit our website to find out more at: SOURCE Nucleome Therapeutics 21% more press release views with Request a Demo