Best Startup
At Best Startup UK we track over 130,000 UK startups and over 500,000 people who hold key positions in these companies. We use this directory of startups to highlight top employees, founders and board members we think deserve more appreciation than they are currently getting.
This list showcases the top London based Founder operating in the Biopharma space. If you think a Founder is missing from this list, feel free to contact our editor on editor@beststartup.co.uk.
The individuals on this list have been included because of exceptional performance in one of the following categories:
- Innovation – Operating as a key part in an extremely innovative business or startup.
- Growth – Operating as a key figure in the growth and upscale of a market leading business or startup.
- Management – Showing exceptional management skills.
- Societal impact – Putting their business on the map for their positive societal or environmental impact.
Our Data – We source our data from OSINT (open source intelligence) and public directories such as Companies House UK, Crunchbase, SemRush and many more. The data from these sources should be treated with a degree of caution and verified yourself.
Amit Nathwani
Founder & Chief Scientific Officer of Freeline
Amit is renowned for his pioneering work on gene therapy for haemophilia B, and was first to show successful correction of bleeding diathesis in patients with severe haemophilia B. Amit is the Director of the Katharine Dormandy Haemophilia Centre at the Royal Free Hospital, and a Senior NIHR Investigator. He is also Professor of Haematology at UCL. He graduated in Medicine from the University of Aberdeen in 1984. In 1997 he moved to St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital, Memphis, USA, to work with Dr Arthur Nienhuis on adeno-associated virus mediated gene transfer. Here he started his pioneering work on gene therapy for haemophilia B. In 2001 he returned to University College London as a Senior Lecturer in Haematology and a Consultant to the National Blood Services in the UK. He was the first to show successful correction of bleeding diathesis in patients with severe haemophilia B, using a distinct gene transfer approach developed in collaboration with Dr’s Davidoff and Nienhuis at St Jude Children’s Research Hospital.
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About Freeline: Freeline Therapeutics is a biotechnology company focused on developing liver directed gene therapies for a range of diseases.
Charles Sermon
General Counsel & Co-Founder of Mereo Biopharma
Charles is Mereo Biopharma’s General Counsel, Company Secretary and a co-founder. He has over 20 years’ experience in corporate law and biopharmaceuticals. He started his career as a corporate lawyer at Freshfields before joining Nomura as an Associate Director in 1998 where he worked for Nomura’s life science investment team investing globally in biotechnology companies. Charles was part of Phase4 Partners’ MBO from Nomura in 2010. Charles has an LLB (Hons) from Hull University. Charles is a Board Member of Phase4 Partners and a Member of the Mayor of London Enterprise Panel’s Digital Creative, Science and Technology Working Group. Prior to Nomura Charles was a corporate lawyer in London with Freshfields. Charles holds a LLB (Hons) from the University of Hull and a Diploma in Company Direction from the Institute of Directors.
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About Mereo Biopharma: Mereo is a new UK-based speciality biopharmaceutical company.
Alastair MacKinnon
CMO and Co-Founder of Mereo Biopharma
Alastair joined the team in 2005. He serves as Board Observer for Albireo and Chroma. Further to these he has been actively involved in the investments in OncoMed (OMED), Proteolix and Nabriva. Prior to joining, Alastair was a practising physician, with a breadth of experience across cardiovascular and oncology surgery and intensive care. He holds a Physiology BSc (Hons) and MBBS from King’s College London, is a Member of the Royal College of Surgeons (Ed) and hold s a Diploma in Corporate Finance from the London Business School.
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About Mereo Biopharma: Mereo is a new UK-based speciality biopharmaceutical company.
Raj Mehta
Co-Founder & CEO of Adendra Therapeutics
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About Adendra Therapeutics, Apple Tree Partners: Adendra Therapeutics wants to use new insights into dendritic cell biology to develop a novel type of immunotherapy.
Caetano Reis e Sousa
Co-Founder of Adendra Therapeutics
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About Adendra Therapeutics: Adendra Therapeutics wants to use new insights into dendritic cell biology to develop a novel type of immunotherapy.
Sophia Karagiannis
Scientific Founder of Epsilogen
Sophia is a Reader in translational cancer immunology at KCL and a globally-recognised expert on the use of IgE antibodies to fight cancer. She co-founded and Chairs the Task Force on AllergoOncology and her group collaborates closely with the CRUK Centre for Drug Development. She holds a PhD from King’s College London.
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About Epsilogen: Epsilogen is a developer of an immuno-oncology company intended to develop immunoglobulin antibodies to treat cancer.
Vincenzo Cerundolo
Founder of iOx Therapeutics Ltd.
Professor Cerundolo is Professor of Immunology at the University of Oxford and Director of the MRC Human Immunology Unit at the Weatherall Institute of Molecular Medicine. He was the first to show the mechanism of ligand binding of lipids to CD1d molecules and their subsequent presentation to lymphocytes. In addition, He was able to demonstrate the importance of iNKT cells in enhancing antigen specific T and B cell responses and their ability to abolish the immuno-suppressive activity of myeloid derived suppressor cells. This work led to the development of the engineered iNKT agonists being developed by iOx as potential immunotherapy candidates. He discovered the technology that is the basis for iOx Therapeutics and acts as scientific advisor to iOx.
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About iOx Therapeutics Ltd.: iOx Therapeutics Ltd. operates as an immuno-oncology company.
Daniel Ives
Founder of Mitohelix
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About Mitohelix: UK-based biotech startup in stealth
Radha Desai
Founder of Mitohelix
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About Mitohelix: UK-based biotech startup in stealth
