Gadametric have developed a proprietary antiviral screening technology that enables them to screen potential drug candidates (e.g. new chemical entities, antibodies, small RNAs etc.) for their ability to kill viruses. The system can be easily automated into a medium or high throughput process and can be adapted for use with virtually any virus. Initially Gadametric intend to provide a screening service to pharmaceutical companies that wish to utilise the benefits of the system. In the long term Gadametric will carry out in-house drug discovery by screening libraries of compounds to isolate novel, patentable antivirals.

Gadametric's screening system differs in several important ways from those that are used as standard. These include: speed and throughput, standard cell-based screens (plaque assays) are not readily automated and take approximately 20x longer than the Gadametric system to gain results; the ability to screen against clinical isolates, standard cell-based screens look for cell death and many clinical isolates do not kill the cells they grow in. The market for antivirals is huge, expected to total approximately $15 billion by 2007. Although much of this is revenue from established antivirals already on the market (e.g. against HIV and herpes) there is a huge untapped market for antivirals targeting viruses such as Respiratory Syncytial Virus (RSV) that at present are not easily treated. Sales of the antibody Synagis (that has some efficacy when used to prevent RSV infection in premature babies) reached $1 billion in 2004. This demonstrates the potential of a more effective antiviral against this one virus alone.

Further Information: Dr Sam Hardy: 02476 75490, samuel.hardy@warwick.ac.uk

Interim CEO Dr Hardy obtained a PhD in virology at the University of Warwick before moving into technology transfer as a Business Development Manager, working with Warwick Ventures. Dr Hardy has been undertaking the role of interim CEO since Gadametric was formed in July 2004, and has been mainly involved with development of the business plan and raising investment. Professor Andrew Easton – Director and Co-Inventor Professor Easton is Deputy Chair of the Department of Biological Sciences and Head of Virology at the University of Warwick. Gadametric and the technology that the company is based around came out of joint research that Professor Easton carried out with Dr Marriott. Dr Anthony Marriott – Director and Co-Inventor Dr Marriott is a Senior Lecturer in the Department of Biological Sciences at the University of Warwick. Gadametric and the technology that the company is based around came out of joint research that Dr Marriott carried out with Professor Easton.