Glasgow-based Nebu~Flow, a company developing the next generation of inhaled drugs, has secured £4.7M (approximately €5.50M) in fresh funding to speed up better inhalable meds for breathing problems.
The round was led by SCVC, a UK-based venture capital firm that backs early-stage deep tech spinouts, and was supported by Scottish Enterprise, Foresight WAE Technology, SIS Ventures, Ascension, and Conduit EIS Impact Fund.
Kerry Sharp, Director of Entrepreneurship and Investment at Scottish Enterprise, says, “Scottish Enterprise has supported Nebu~Flow’s ambition to revolutionise respiratory drug delivery over a number of years, from inclusion in our Unlocking Ambition entrepreneurship programme and feasibility grant support, all the way through to this investment, which has in-turn helped unlock access to other large grant awards for the company.”
Sharp adds, “The human health sector is a key opportunity area for growth in Scotland, with our academic capability already delivering world-class successes in the field. Companies like Nebu~Flow can play a vital role in transforming our economy by scaling up, creating high-value jobs and competing internationally.”
“It has been fantastic to follow their journey from university spinout right through to securing the investment needed to commercialise their technology, hopefully bringing benefits to respiratory patients around the world.”
Transforming respiratory drug delivery
According to Nebu~Flow, respiratory diseases are major global killers, costing around €400B/year in clinical expenses. In the UK, the British Lung Foundation reports 10,000 new lung disorder diagnoses weekly.
Respiratory diseases are typically treated by inhaling aerosols, where effective medication delivery relies on droplet size distribution. Larger drops often get trapped in the upper respiratory tract.
This is where Nebu~Flow looks to make a difference. The company aims to unlock the delivery of advanced inhaled drugs for respiratory disorders.
Its technology allows precise control of droplet size, facilitating deep lung deposition and injection-free systemic drug delivery via inhalation, particularly for treating cardiovascular and central nervous system disorders.
Nebu~Flow collaborates with specialists to develop its nebuliser, targeting fragile and hard-to-nebulise drugs. It aims to enable the delivery of transformative medications with the currently limited clinical utility directly to the lungs, transforming respiratory care.
The company boasts a team well-versed in inhalation drug delivery, pooling over 150 years of experience. Its chair, Dr John Pritchard, has over 25 years’ experience in the field working for companies like GSK, AstraZeneca, 3M and Philips.
In 2023, Dr Gary Pitcairn from AstraZeneca joined Nebu~Flow’s advisory board, and the team is growing in 2024.
Capital utilisation
Dr Elijah Nazarzadeh, CEO and co-founder of Nebu~Flow, says, “Our mission is to revolutionise respiratory drug delivery. The investment accelerates our development activities to position the company for inhalation delivery of RNA-based formulations.”
“We now look forward to the final product development and commercialisation stages, with the support of SCVC and our other investors.”
“Essentially, our technology provides new opportunities for targeted drug delivery to the lungs as well as drug delivery to the cardiovascular and central nervous systems.”
“We are engaged with a number of partners in the UK and North America who are currently trialling the product as we prepare for the regulatory approval stage,” adds Dr Nazarzadeh.
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