BioWorld International Correspondent

LONDON - The UK Medical Research Council is spinning out a company, Etiologics Ltd., to commercialize the mouse genetics capabilities developed at its Mammalian Genetics Unit in Harwell.

Etiologics has raised £3.5 million (US$5.5 million) in a first-round funding from MVM Ltd. and ABN Amro Capital to develop mouse strains modeling human diseases and use them to identify the relevant genes in target discovery.

Steve Brown, director of the MRU and a co-founder of Etiologics, told BioWorld International, "The future of gene function discovery in both academic and commercial arenas is predicated on the use of mouse genetics. The mouse is such an important basic model of human disease."

Rather than producing mice with specific genes knocked out, Etiologics uses chemical mutagenesis to generate mice with numerous different phenotypes. "This is where we distinguish ourselves from other mice genetics companies," Brown said. "With knockouts you knock down the function completely. With our technology you can make changes in the function of a gene. We can make changes to individual bases [in a gene], which may mean the gene functions less well, or it may change its function in a subtle way."

The chemical mutagenesis process is random and in many cases the mutations are not relevant. To assess if they have relevant mutations, mice are screened for factors such as high blood pressure to see if they have diabetes, or bone density, to see if they have osteoporosis.

"Once we identify a mouse that is an interesting disease model we can very rapidly find the gene we have mutated," Brown said. The MRU has developed mouse strains that model diseases, including heart disease, diabetes, osteoporosis, visual impairment, renal failure, abnormal cholesterol metabolism, neurodegenerative disorders and hearing impairment.

The MRU's models already are being used by companies like GlaxoSmithKline plc, and the formation of Etiologics allows such collaborations to be managed on a commercial footing. The company will work with pharmaceutical partners to identify new therapeutic targets and also will have an in-house target discovery program that initially will focus on Type II diabetes.

The £3.5 million will last two years, allowing Etiologics to establish two or three deals with pharmaceutical partners and develop its in-house capabilities. "Our business plan is to be at an early stage; we won't go into drug development," Brown said.

The company is in the process of recruiting a CEO and chief scientific officer. Brown will retain his position as director of the MGU and will be on Etiologics' board. The company has exclusive rights to commercialize the work of Brown and his co-founder, Roger Fox, and certain options on other intellectual property arising from research at the MGU.

The MGU currently has annual funding from the MRC of £4.25 million and 130 staff. The MRC will spend £23 million over the next five years to upgrade and extend its facility at Harwell, where Etiologics will be located.