Park occupier, Axol Bioscience (Axol) has received investment from private equity firm Calculus Capital, a leading EIS and VCT investor. The firm has invested £2.5m in Axol, a provider of stem cells produced from reprogrammed human blood and tissue cells. 

Axol supplies the world’s top pharma companies, biotechs and research institutions with sustainable, physiologically relevant human derived cell culture models for pioneering research and drug discovery applications. By harnessing advances in stem cell biology, Axol is able to generate self-renewing cell-lines specific to any part of the human body from healthy and unhealthy tissue.

Importantly, Axol’s unique and innovative approach to this process means that each cell line it produces for customers will be identical to the last production batch, ensuring the quality and the consistency required for research and drug development projects. Once a new cell line is developed from a healthy or diseased individual, it is added to Axol’s suite of ‘off the shelf’ products which may be purchased on their website. The combination of these properties means the stem cells supplied by Axol are hugely important for research into treatments for many serious illnesses and diseases, including Alzheimer’s and Huntington’s.

Dr Yichen Shi, CEO Axol said: “The market for our products is growing rapidly, all around the world, and the funding from Calculus will help us make the most of that opportunity through new product development and increasing our sales and marketing capabilities.”