Seed investment for School spin-out In4Derm

In4Derm is an innovative drug discovery company that is developing next generation topical and oral therapies for widespread inflammatory conditions such as eczema and rheumatoid arthritis. Syndicating with o2h ventures are Meltwind and Wren to complete a first investment in In4Derm. A spin out from the School, the team has been recognised as Scotland’s top spin out opportunity for 2020 having won the top prize in the 2019 Converge Challenge competition.  

The seed investment from o2h ventures will be used to complete lead optimisation for an oral, first-in-class, anti-inflammatory drug.

Sunil Shah, CEO at o2h ventures said: “We are very excited to invest into In4Derm. When fully developed this could greatly improve the well-being of patients with inflammatory conditions such as rheumatoid arthritis or atopic dermatitis. Tim and Andrew are experienced biotechies having worked in Merck and BioFocus (later Charles River). They have the scientific and leadership experience to navigate the science and scale the company and partner with big pharma”.  

Tim Sparey, CEO at In4Derm said: “We’re delighted to work with Sunil and the o2h ventures team, Meltwind and Wren. They bring considerable drug discovery and investor expertise to complement the In4Derm team’s experience, including Dr Andrew Woodland who has pioneered the discovery and development of In4Derm’s BET programmes. In4Derm’s oral, BDII selective BET compounds are leading the race to develop safe and efficacious BET inhibitors in major disease markets.  In addition, In4Derm is developing pan-BET inhibitors for topical use in dermatology”.

Anne Muir Head of IP and Commercialisation at the University of Dundee said “This is exciting progress for In4Derm and really validates their approach and assets. We look forward to seeing how the company progresses with an excellent group of investors on board”