Leading Scottish biotech NovaBiotics announces move to ONE BioHub

Innovative biotechnology group company NovaBiotics has confirmed that NovaBiotics and NovaBiotics Consumer Health will move into ONE BioHub in Aberdeen.

The news was hailed by the UK and Scottish governments as a milestone in industry’s ambition to double the size of north east Scotland’s high-value life sciences cluster to diversify the economy and create high-skill jobs.

NovaBiotics originally spun out of the University of Aberdeen’s Rowett Institute and has raised more than $40 million in investment and grant funding to date. It develops innovative solutions for health needs and personal care in significant global markets via its pharma and consumer divisions. These include advanced clinical-stage product candidates for medically unmet, life-limiting and life-threatening inflammatory, infectious and respiratory diseases, and commercial products for the personal care market addressing nail, skin, scalp and hair issues. NovaBiotics has offices in Aberdeen, Dublin and Boston.

Founder and CEO Dr Deborah O’Neil OBE FRSE said the move reflected the progress achieved by NovaBiotics on its commercialisation journey, with its first personal care products now launched to market in the UK and the US.

“ONE BioHub is a perfect solution for NovaBiotics and NovaBiotics Consumer Health’s needs for both commercial and research space. With marketed personal care products already disrupting multi-billion-dollar global markets and advanced clinical stage pharma assets with potential to significantly impact a number of serious, unmet health needs, having the right base at such a pivotal time for both companies is key. As a bespoke life sciences facility for businesses on the Foresterhill health campus and the physical core of the region’s bio-entrepreneurial ecosystem, ONE BioHub is our ideal new base and we look forward to the next chapter for the group unfolding from there,” said Dr O’Neil.

NovaBiotics founder and CEO Deborah O’Neil (second from left) pictured at ONE BioHub in August with (from left) Opportunity North East CEO Jennifer Craw, Cabinet Secretary for Economy Kate Forbes, and Sir Ian Wood, chair of ONE.

NovaBiotics and NovaBiotics Consumer Health are the latest tenants secured by Opportunity North East (ONE) for ONE BioHub, home to the entrepreneurial ecosystem driving the growth of the region’s life sciences sector. In July, Scottish Brain Sciences became the anchor tenant, basing its clinical trials centre in the hub on Aberdeen’s Foresterhill Health Campus.

ONE BioHub is a key industry innovation project in the Aberdeen City Region Deal and is led and co-funded by ONE with capital funding from the UK Government, Scottish Government and Scottish Enterprise. The University of Aberdeen and NHS Grampian are strategic partners in the project. The hub offers hot desks, co-working, laboratory, office space, fully customisable grow-on space, event and meeting space. It is home to the entrepreneurial ecosystem and sector support developed and delivered by ONE and its partners to support scientific entrepreneurs to scale innovation-led businesses.

More than 2,500 people work across the life sciences commercial, research, academic and clinical community in the region. Direct jobs in the cluster have doubled in the past five years to a record 1,500.

Sir Ian Wood KT GBE, chair of ONE, said: “ONE BioHub was created through a unique private-public partnership led and co-funded by ONE to support the ambitions of life sciences innovators developing solutions to global health and well-being challenges. NovaBiotics is a leading Aberdeen-based biotech venture and exemplifies the cluster’s entrepreneurial spirit – successfully translating research from the lab bench to products in market. The company has an international profile and is a significant addition to the community in ONE BioHub. Deborah is a sector leader committed to the region’s economic diversification and growth, and I wish her and her team every success in their next stage of growth.”

The life sciences sector is an economic priority regionally and for both the UK Government and Scottish Government.

Scottish Secretary Ian Murray said: "Kick-starting economic growth and job creation are top UK Government priorities, so it's great news that NovaBiotics and NovaBiotics Consumer Health have chosen the partner-funded ONE BioHub for its biotechnology commercial and research space.

"Scotland’s economic potential is huge, from life sciences and innovation, to energy, services, food and drink, tourism and hospitality - we trailblaze in so many areas. I look forward to seeing the life-saving and enhancing work NovaBiotics develops in the BioHub, a facility which has received £10 million each from the UK and Scottish governments as part of the Aberdeen City Region Deal."

Deputy First Minister Kate Forbes said: “Scotland’s life sciences sector is a strategic economic priority. The Scottish Government is committed to advancing our world-renowned expertise in innovation, research, and technology to continue to allow the sector to expand and thrive.

“Through the Aberdeen City Region Deal the Scottish Government has invested £10 million in ONE BioHub which is already increasing entrepreneurial ambition and cross-sector partnerships in the north-east’s life sciences cluster. These partnerships enhance innovation and will provide solutions to some of the greatest medical challenges we face.

“NovaBiotics’ decision to operate from the new heart of Aberdeen’s exciting and innovative life sciences ecosystem is extremely positive news. This is further evidence of ONE BioHub’s ability to allow both new and established businesses to grow and thrive in the region.”

Aberdeen City Council Co-Leader Councillor Ian Yuill, Chair of the ACRD Joint Committee, said: “Our city is renowned for its scientific research and entrepreneurship – and NovaBiotics embodies both. Their arrival at the ONE BioHub marks another milestone for the Aberdeen City Region Deal. The hub is helping companies convert innovation into commercial products and services, generating jobs and improving health in the UK and beyond. The ONE BioHub is the perfect base for NovaBiotics to build on its success, and the Council and its partners are proud to be part of that story.”