Accelerating in growth, Liverpool and Cheshire-based biotech firm Redx Pharma has sold its agro-chemical business, Redag Crop Protection.

Redag has accumulated more than £1m in a fundraising, led by Manchester-based corporate finance boutique Acceleris Capital and will operate from laboratories in Alderley Park, Cheshire. It is expected to create 20 scientific posts in the first three years of the operation.

The North West Fund for Venture Capital, which is managed by Enterprise Ventures, has invested alongside existing Redx shareholders and new private investors.

Redag was established two years ago as a subsidiary of Redx under the leadership of Bill Thompson, who will now be acting CEO of the newly demerged business.

Redag will focus on developing products for the global agrochemical market, which is worth some £50bn a year, in particular new fungicides, herbicides, insecticides and nematicides – products which play a vital role in controlling the pests and diseases that threaten global food supply.

Neil Murray, chief executive of Redx Pharma, said:

“We wish Bill and his team every success in taking Redag forward. Redx itself has taken the decision to focus on human health as we have an intensely busy development pipeline for the coming years. It follows that agrichem has become non-core for our business.”

Mr Thompson said:

“We’ve achieved very promising results since our inception and have proof of concept in a range of areas. The investment we’ve received and the move to Alderley Park will help us take the development of the business to the next level.”

“The Crop Protection industry typically spends US $250m over a nine year period testing up to 140,000 candidate compounds in order to bring a single new product to market. Our approach will help secure fast and efficient access to an extensive pipeline of new candidates at lower cost. We are going to be the discovery engine for the agrochemical industry.”

Corporate partner Nicola Frost of DWF in Manchester provided legal advice to the company while Andrew O’Mahony from Brabners acted for The North West Fund for Venture Capital.

Source: The Business Desk
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Words: Daniel Pearce