A medical device company spun out of the University of Glasgow has secured £4.7 million in its bid to accelerate ‘next generation respiratory pharmaceuticals’.
Nebu-Flow’s technology compresses particles to such a small size that they can be absorbed more easily into the lungs.
The breakthrough could aid potentially hundreds of millions of people around the world who use inhalers to treat common respiratory illnesses – which are the main cause of death and disability globally.
The company’s nebuliser platform has been developed to provide a number of advantages over existing technologies.
The funding round was led by SCVC, a leading UK-based venture capital firm that invests in early-stage deep tech spinouts, and was supported by Scottish Enterprise, Foresight WAE Technology, SIS Ventures, Ascension, and Conduit EIS Impact Fund.
Dr Elijah Nazarzadeh, CEO and co-founder of Nebu-Flow, said: “Our mission is to revolutionise respiratory drug delivery. The investment accelerates our development activities to position the company for inhalation delivery of RNA-based formulations. We now look forward to the final product development and commercialisation stages, with the support of SCVC and our other investors.”
He added: “Essentially, our technology provides new opportunities for targeted drug delivery to the lungs as well as drug delivery to the cardiovascular and central nervous systems. We are engaged with a number of partners in the UK and North America who are currently trialling the product as we prepare for the regulatory approval stage.”
Overall, the worldwide inhalable drug market was valued at approximately $33 billion in 2023, with the nebuliser market valued at over $1 billion.
Dr Harry Destecroix, managing partner, SCVC, said: “We are deeply impressed by the team’s achievement of its technical and commercial milestones to date, demonstrating their capability and readiness for the next phase in healthcare innovation. This investment underscores our confidence in Nebu-Flow’s groundbreaking nebulisation technology, which is poised to transform respiratory drug delivery, improve health and deliver impact.”
Kerry Sharp, director of entrepreneurship and investment at Scottish Enterprise, said: “Scottish Enterprise has supported Nebu-Flow’s ambition to revolutionise respiratory drug delivery over a number of years, from inclusion in our Unlocking Ambition entrepreneurship programme and feasibility grant support, all the way through to this investment, which has in turn helped unlock access to other large grant awards for the company.”
She added: “The human health sector is a key opportunity area for growth in Scotland, with our academic capability already delivering world class successes in the field. Companies like Nebu-Flow can play a vital role in transforming our economy by scaling up, creating high value jobs and competing internationally. It has been fantastic to follow their journey from university spinout right through to securing the investment needed to commercialise their technology, hopefully bringing benefits to respiratory patients around the world.”
Nebu-Flow has a strong team with in-depth knowledge of inhalation drug delivery. The company’s chair, Dr John Pritchard, has over 25 years’ experience in the field working in senior roles for GSK, AstraZeneca, 3M, and Philips. Last year, Dr Gary Pitcairn, formerly Head of Project Leadership (Respiratory) at AstraZeneca, joined Nebu-Flow’s advisory board and the company is expanding its team during 2024.