Spinouts Part 1: What is a spinout company?

What is a spinout?

A spinout company is a private company based on academic research with the aim of gaining investment and commercialising research. 

Spinouts are companies formed based on academic research generated within and owned by a university. Spinouts are often better able to turn university research into real-world impact than internal departments, due to their dynamic nature and ability to make speedy decisions.

What are the advantages of a spinout?

A spin-out company can support taking research to the next-step by bringing together dedicated scientists and experts to attract the significant investment needed to develop new technology. The creation of a new spinout company supports developing research and also channels investment back into university research.

How can King's support spinouts? 

King’s has a long history of successful technology transfer and commercialisation of research discoveries. Earlier this year, the university announced changes to King’s IP Code of Practice, increasing founder equity to 80% and King’s College London being an active shareholder.

The revised founder-led approach emphasises King’s role in fostering a positive environment for innovation. This is part of King’s ongoing commitment to accelerate this activity in the future, by simplifying the founder journey and supporting academics across disciplines.

You can also connect with the King's Entrepreneurships Institues King’s Spinout Accelerator, a 12-month programme dedicated to supporting the translation of inventions, born from ground-breaking research across King’s College London.

Examples of spin-outs from the Faculty of Life Sciences & Medicine

Pheon Therapeutics

Therapeutics, a biotech spinout with its origins in research carried out at the Institute of Pharmaceutical Sciences (IPS) at King’s, is focused on the development of specialised ADCs.

Pheon Therapeutics evolved from an IPS spin-out company based on the academic research of Professor David Thurston, Emeritus Professor of Drug Discovery and Professor Miraz Rahman, Professor of Medicinal Chemistry at the IPS. Professor Thurston was previously the Chief Scientific Officer (CSO) of the spin-out, and is now an advisor to Pheon Therapeutics.

Pheon Therapeutics is leveraging two decades of ADC experience to build a novel pipeline of next generation ADCs which offer the potential to treat solid tumors and liquid cancers that do not respond to other treatments.

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Heqet Therapeutics 

Heqet Therapeutics is a King’s biotech spin-out active in the field of regenerative medicine. The company stems from Prof. Mauro Giacca’s ground-breaking research on cardiomyocytes regeneration that he initiated at the International Centre for Genetic Engineering and Biotechnology (ICGEB) in Trieste, Italy, before moving to King’s.

Heqet Therapeutics develops first-in-class non-coding RNA-based compounds to address highly unmet medical needs in acute myocardial infarction and other cardiovascular diseases.

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Apeikon Therapeutics

Apeikon Therapeutics is a spinout that aims to enhance the effectiveness and safety of anti-cancer drugs. When anti-cancer drugs are administered, they go everywhere in the body, causing patients to suffer lots of side effects. By developing a non-invasive technology that better targets anti-cancer drugs and activates them at the tumour, Apeikon aims to reduce the negative side effects and improve quality of life post-treatment.

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Epsilogen Ltd.

Epsilogen Ltd, an immuno-oncology company developed by Professor Sophia Karagiannis and Professor James Spicer, is conducting ground-breaking work to develop novel immunoglobulin E (IgE) antibodies to treat cancer.

Epsilogen is a global leader in the development of immunoglobulin E (IgE) antibodies to treat cancer. IgE has several key features that make it ideal for the treatment of solid tumours including greater potency, enhanced tumour access and a long tissue half-life.

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