Northern Gritstone invests in 91直播 spinout Apini
Northern Gritstone, the groundbreaking life sciences and deeptech investment firm, has today announced a commitment to invest 拢1.8 million into Apini, a small molecule drug development programme being advanced by Syncona鈥檚 accelerator Slingshot Therapeutics (鈥淪lingshot鈥�).
Apini is a spinout from The University of Manchester developing a new treatment for chronic inflammatory diseases using a small molecule approach. The company was formed with help from the University鈥檚 Innovation Factory, its technology transfer office. According to the Spotlight on Spinouts 2025 report by the Royal Academy of Engineering and Beauhurst, the Innovation Factory supported the launch of 114 spinout companies between 2011 and January 2025, placing the University among the UK鈥檚 top institutions for spinout creation.
Spun out of the University of Manchester, Apini is developing a novel small molecule for the treatment of chronic inflammatory diseases. Potential indications include Crohn鈥檚 disease and Ulcerative Colitis, the two most common forms of inflammatory bowel disease (IBD), which affects as many as 10 million people worldwide. Apini is looking to address the significant unmet need in this area of medicine through targeted modulation of eNAMPT, an enzyme implicated in multiple inflammatory conditions.
Preclinical studies demonstrate the potential for selective eNAMPT modulators to treat various inflammatory diseases without inducting immune suppression.
Apini is based on the groundbreaking drug development work of Professor Sam Butterworth from The University of Manchester, and is a fantastic example of life sciences company creation based on world-class research. We鈥檙e delighted to invest in Apini, alongside Syncona, and with the support of the Slingshot accelerator鈥�
Apini was discovered by founding scientist Professor Sam Butterworth, who is world-renowned for his work in the invention of Tagrisso, a life-saving anti-cancer drug for EGFR mutant lung cancer that is used globally.
Slingshot was built by Syncona with an initial commitment of 拢12.5 million to identify and advance de-risked therapeutic programmes from the work of leading academic researchers. Apini is the first company to work with Slingshot, following its launch in November 2024, with Northern Gritstone becoming the first co-investor.
Apini鈥檚 funding from Northern Gritstone and Syncona will be delivered over three tranches tied to company milestones, with the original commitment unchanged in value.
Northern Gritstone Chief Executive, Duncan Johnson, said: 鈥淎pini is based on the groundbreaking drug development work of Professor Sam Butterworth from The University of Manchester, and is a fantastic example of life sciences company creation based on world-class research. We鈥檙e delighted to invest in Apini, alongside Syncona, and with the support of the Slingshot accelerator鈥�
Founder of Apini, Professor Sam Butterworth said 鈥淭his investment from Northern Gritstone supports Apini鈥檚 mission to treat inflammatory diseases without the induction of immune suppression. We look forward to advancing and accelerating the Apini programme which we believe can bring meaningful improvements to patients across a broad range of chronic inflammatory diseases.鈥�
Executive Chair of Slingshot, Edward Hodgkin added: 鈥淲e are delighted to welcome Northern Gritstone as an investment partner for Apini, with the investment providing further validation of this novel programme. We believe that Slingshot鈥檚 expertise and operational support has the ability to accelerate exceptional academic science, like Apini, into attractive biotech assets that can quickly and effectively transform into groundbreaking treatments for patients.鈥�