Redx Pharma Opens £10.5 Million R&D Centre in UK

The new venture, Redx Anti-Infectives Ltd, will create 119 high value science jobs at the site, establishing a new team to develop drugs combatting resistance to antibiotics and new medicines to tackle viral infections. A particular focus will be hard to treat infections. These include the growing threat of drug resistant superbugs like MRSA, as well as conditions such as influenza, Hepatitis C and HIV. A further 28 specialist jobs are expected to be created within the wider supply chain.

Redx Anti-Infectives began operations at the end of April 2013 supported by a grant of £4.7 million from the UK Government's Regional Growth Fund (RGF). The company has recently completed a significant funding round, brokered by Manchester-based Acceleris Corporate Finance. A combination of commercial partnering revenue and shareholder equity is also funding Redx Anti-Infectives.

Dr Neil Murray, chief executive of Redx Pharma, commented: The World Health Organisation has identified drug resistance, particularly in the area of antibiotics, as one of the most pressing human health concerns globally. The fresh thinking and original approach of Redx Anti-Infectives will help create effective solutions to these critical problems. Redx is a discovery engine for global pharma and it is innovative and agile companies like ours that can help the industry adapt to a new model of research and development where there is more willingness to outsource some of the challenges involved in creating new proprietary medicines. At Redx, our methods have already uncovered commercial potential that might otherwise have been missed and our approach helps partners to bring new medicines to market faster.

Whilst our headquarters remain in Liverpool and we have ambitious plans to grow our business and create high value science posts in the city, at the same time we recognise that the facilities at Alderley Park are world class and enable us to move quickly in expanding this key new part of our business. We will be working closely with our colleagues at AstraZeneca, who made a compelling commercial case to attract us to Alderley Park. We look forward to a long and fruitful collaboration.

Clive Morris, AstraZeneca Vice President, Research & Development said: We are delighted to welcome Redx to Alderley Park, which is an important first step in our ambition to secure a sustainable future for the site. We will continue to seek further opportunities to attract other innovation-driven companies and, wherever possible, build on the existing bioscience expertise and world class facilities available at Alderley Park.

Redx has a busy recruitment programme and hopes to take advantage of the high quality workforce in the area. Alderley Park has a long and rich heritage of important advancements in medical treatments developed at the site.

Redx develops therapeutic remedies based on existing classes of drugs, structurally modifying them to create new proprietary medicines. Benefits for patients include fewer side effects, greater efficacy and ease of use for people. The company achieves revenues by entering into licensing agreements with mid-sized and large pharmaceutical partners who undertake further clinical studies with promising new drug compounds.

Redx Anti-Infectives is the third business which has been created by the Redx Pharma group, which was founded in 2010. It follows Redx Oncology, which is also based in Liverpool, and Redx Crop Protection, which operates from Frome, Somerset.

Redx has previously won RGF backing for the launch of its first spin out, Redx Oncology Ltd, a cancer drug research and development subsidiary which currently employs 111 people in Liverpool. The UK Government Business Secretary Vince Cable visited the Redx Oncology laboratories in 2012 to meet staff and see the progress for himself.