Two spin-off companies from the University of Warwick have been successful in getting to Round 2 of the prestigious Bioscience Business Plan Competition run by the Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council (BBSRC). The successful companies are Septegen Ltd, founded by Professor John Davey, and Neurosolutions Ltd, founds by Drs David Spanswick and Kevin Lee. They will be collecting their cheques for £2000 at an awards ceremony in London in October, and will be hoping to go on to win the competition with the £20,000 top prize.

Septegen Ltd was founded early in 2001, and will be the vehicle for the exploitation of the yeast-based screening systems developed by Professor John Davey. These screening systems will be invaluable in determining the function of new cell receptors identified by the Human Genome project, and could thus lead to the discovery of a variety of new types of pharmaceutical drug. The company expects to win its first contract, from a major UK pharmaceutical company, soon.

Neurosolutions Ltd was also founded early in 2001, and will use the expertise of Dave Spanswick, Kevin Lee and Dr Fei Yue to identify chemical compounds with significant effect on mammalian nervous systems. Such compounds could be the basis of new drugs for epilepsy, obesity, pain and other conditions. They have won their first contract from a major international pharmaceutical company, and will shortly be fitting out new laboratories.

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