ARC West London is continuing to see high demand for its lab space as new member Kesmalea Therapeutics takes just over 3,600 sq. ft. of space at the campus and Epsilogen expands with an additional 1,500 sq. ft, taking occupancy of Motherlabs (the company’s accelerator space) to 100 percent.
Kesmalea Therapeutics, a molecule drug discovery company focused on creating a new generation of oral drugs that address diseases by modulating protein homeostasis, is the latest life sciences organisation to join ARC West London. Kesmalea Therapeutics has secured Series A investment from Syncona and Oxford Science Enterprises at £25 million and £20 million, respectively.
Epsilogen a global leader in the development of immunoglobulin E (IgE) antibodies, has taken the remaining suite in Motherlabs as it continues to develop a new class of anti-cancer drug following successful clinical trials.
With solid demand for lab space, ARC is expanding Motherlabs into its new, adjacent development, ‘Refinery’ (A 150,000 sq. ft. lab development, ready later this year). ARC will devote most of the ground floor of Refinery to Motherlabs to create more space for start-ups and seed-stage companies to grow.
The accelerator space is now home to Econic Biosciences, focused on developing treatments for aggressive and resistant cancers; Sania Therapeutics, a seed-stage gene therapy business developing treatments for people with neurological disorders; GENinCode, which specialises in genetic risk assessment and prediction of cardiovascular disease; and Epsilogen.
Daniel Pagella, ARC’s senior director, said: “I’m delighted to welcome Kesmalea Therapeutics to our thriving community of life science organisations and to announce the expansion of Motherlabs at ARC West London to provide more science-ready fitted lab space for early and growth stage businesses focused on the transformative potential of scientific research and development. London is home to three of the world’s top 20 universities for Life Science, all of which are creating start-ups at a record pace. It’s important that we provide our members with access to high quality lab space and support to help them overcome the challenges of scaling to succeed at a global level.”
ARC West London Refinery will combine flexible wet and dry lab space and state-of-the-art research and development facilities alongside restaurants, cafés, and event and presentation studios, suitable for science and tech SMEs to multinationals. The Campus is an integral part of the wider West London life science ecosystem, close to Imperial College’s medical training and research campus within Charing Cross Hospital and near the internationally acclaimed Institute of Cancer Research, Imperial’s White City Campus and Hammersmith Hospital.
Motherlabs, ARC’s accelerator has fully fitted and managed private suites and write up spaces with a flexible lease structure, shared facilities, and dedicated lab manager, to help ensure its members get up and running quickly, grow sustainably, innovate, and move ideas from concept, to lab, to commercialisation at pace. ARC has ambitious plans to roll out Motherlabs across its existing 1.6 million sq. ft cluster network, including at Harwell Science and Innovation Campus and Oxford, where a further 3.7m sq. ft of development is already planned, to ease the demand-supply imbalance for lab space across the burgeoning life sciences sector.
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