Viking invests to reduce the need for animal testing

The Viking Fund and a group of mainly Yorkshire-based Business Angels have invested £250,000 in one of the region’s most exciting new biotechnology companies, Kirkstall Limited.

Kirkstall is developing toxicity screening products to be used by the pharmaceutical and cosmetic industries to reduce the need for animal testing. The tests are based on human cells and therefore should reduce the risk of problems in human trials, such as the fatal side effects which harmed the volunteers in the highly publicised Vioxx trial. Since winning the Venturefest prize in York in January 2007, Kirkstall has raised £459,000 in grants and equity investment to develop its technology and products. The products in development at Kirkstall will have a major impact on how the safety and efficacy of new drugs is tested prior to human clinical trials. At the moment widespread use is made of animals to try to reduce the chances of adverse and harmful reactions in humans. However the scientific basis for the use of animals is now being questioned and pressure is building up to find a viable and economic replacement. Kirkstall uses the very latest micro-fabrication technology to build in-vitro tests that closely match what actually happens inside the human body. Kirkstall has already secured the support of leading academic research teams in Italy, France and the UK. These teams test the application of Kirkstall’s technology and build a technical dossier that will convince leading drug companies about the efficacy of its new testing and screening technology Commenting on the latest round of funding, Kirkstall founder, Dr Malcolm Wilkinson said; “The injection of funds and the expertise of the serial entrepreneurs in the angel investor group will accelerate our product development and enable us to take a major share in the market for improved safety and toxicity testing in pharmaceuticals, chemicals and cosmetics” Managing Director Viking Fund Andrew Burton said; “I’ve been impressed with the progress Dr Malcolm Wilkinson and his team has made in the 12 months since we first met the company. The study of multi-cell interaction is still relatively new, and we believe Kirkstall’s MCB technology will find many applications among research organisations and pharmaceutical companies.” The Kirkstall technology is known as MCB (Multi Chamber Bioreactors) and is the result of seven years of research and development at the University of Pisa. Kirkstall holds an exclusive licence to the Pisa developments and has filed additional patents to protect its position.

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