The Company
Sarum Biosciences was founded to develop novel antibacterial treatments using naturally occurring bacterial viruses – bacteriophage. The need for new antibacterial strategies is evident from the increasing incidence of so-called ‘Superbugs’ that are becoming resistant to increasing numbers of the antibiotics used to treat bacterial disease.
Sarum is re-examining the potential of natural bacterial killers, bacteriophage, as a solution to this growing problem in a number of treatment areas and is working closely with academic and commercial partners to bring new therapies to the market.
Chairman Nat Hone - Currently a non-executive director of Northern Venture Managers with 20 years in the Venture Capital industry, including GT Management (Fund of Funds) and Thompson Clive.
Chief Executive Officer and founder – Dr. David West, former CSO of Regma BioTechnologies and project leader at the Centre for Applied Microbiology and Research (CAMR, now part of the Health Protection Agency at Porton Down) where he was involved in the development of vaccines for meningococcal meningitis. Dr. West left CAMR in 2000 to join a senior colleague at Regma BioTechnologies a start-up phage therapy company whose principal therapeutic target was tuberculosis. As a PhD trained molecular biologist, and with experience gained from vaccine development at CAMR and commercial phage therapy development at Regma, Dr. West has been involved in almost every aspect of the drug development process from the bench to patent strategy, negotiating regulatory requirements and company strategy and development.
Chief Operating Officer – Dr. David Rooke is a former Head of Pharmaceutical Development for SmithKline Beecham (1988-92) and is a Director of ProTEM Services Ltd, an International Pharmaceutical Consultancy. Dr. Rooke is a specialist in drug development and manufacture, consulting with many of the major pharmaceutical companies in this capacity. Dr. Rooke has, in addition, been involved in the development of phage therapy.
Non-Executive Director - Dr. Andy Shuttleworth has a BSc in Applied Biological Sciences and a PhD in Virology and spent 20 years at the Porton Down research establishments involved in both fundamental research in microbiology and immunology, and the application of that research to pressing problems of the day. He was largely responsible for the UK’s first practical biological agent detection system, fielded during the Gulf War in 1991, and acted as the scientific liaison on chemical and biological issues with UK and US Forces throughout the Gulf region. Because of his unique expertise gained during the Gulf War, he was invited to take part in United Nations inspections in Iraq and other inspections of biological facilities in Russia, the UK and the US, throughout the 1990s. After a period providing scientific support to the Armed Forces and guiding research programmes valued at £40M pa, Andy returned to Porton Down to become the Technical Manager for Hazard Assessment – directing a large team of analytical chemists, microbiologists and operational analysts research on chemical and biological risk and threat assessments and also giving real time operational advice and support to the MoD, the Home Office and other government departments, both in the UK and overseas.
In 2001, he took up an appointment with the UK Foreign and Commonwealth Office to provide an in-house source of scientific advice and expertise on a diverse range of topics of national interest.
Throughout his career, Andy has specialized in identifying and exploiting novel applications for established and cutting edge science, frequently bridging them into unrelated fields of activity.