LifeArc

LifeArc is a British life science medical research charity.[1] It was established in 2000 as MRC Technology to translate the work of UK Medical Research Council (MRC) research scientists.[2]

LifeArc
TypeCharity Commission for England and Wales
IndustryLife science medical research charity
Founded2000
FateRenamed LifeArc in 2017
Headquarters
London
,
UK
Number of locations
London, Stevenage, Edinburgh
Key people
ServicesIP management, drug discovery, diagnostics development, antibody engineering, charity portfolio review
Revenue
  • £1,204.7million (2019)
Number of employees
180
Websitelifearc.org

Today, LifeArc provides intellectual property identification, protection and commercialisation, technology development, diagnostic development, early stage drug discovery and antibody humanization services for the MRC, academia, biotechnology and pharmaceutical organisations and charities, aiming to move promising medical research forward into viable and accessible patient treatments. Profits from LifeArc's activities are reinvested into further research.

LifeArc uses funds from royalty payments to provide grants into rare disease research and allocates seed funding to UK companies.

History

LifeArc started as the Medical Research Council Liaison Office in 1984, and in 1986 the MRC Collaborative Centre, a laboratory-based technology transfer function, was founded. In 1993, the Liaison Office became MRC's Technology Transfer Group, responsible for office based patenting and licensing.

The organisation was set up as a charity and a company limited by guarantee in 2000 to incorporate patenting, licensing and research functions.[3]

On 15 June 2017, it officially became LifeArc.[4]

Activities

LifeArc humanised a number of antibodies on behalf of other organisations. Four of these, Tysabri (Biogen Idec/Elan), Actemra (Hoffmann-La Roche/Chugai), Entyvio (Millenium Pharma/Takeda) and Keytruda (Merck/MSD), are licensed drugs.[5]

In 2010, LifeArc signed a deal with the drug company AstraZeneca to share chemical compounds to help identify potential treatments for serious diseases.[6][7]

LifeArc is a member of a Global Drug Discovery Alliance along with the Centre for Drug Research and Development, the Scripps Research Institute, Cancer Research Technology, the Lead Discovery Centre and the Centre for Drug Design and Discovery, dedicated to translating health research into new medicines and working together to improve the conversion of global early-stage research into much-needed new therapies.[8] Through its earnings from licensing agreements, LifeArc provides funding for academic research and early-stage medical research.[9]

Dementia Consortium was launched in December 2013: £3m drug discovery collaboration between Alzheimer's Research UK, LifeArc and pharmaceutical companies Eisai and Lilly.[10]

In March 2019, LifeArc joined with Cancer Research UK and Ono Pharma to progress new immunotherapy drug targets for cancer.[11]

In May 2019, LifeArc announced it had sold part of its royalty rights for Keytruda to a subsidiary of Canada Pension Plan Investment Board (CPPIB) for US$1.297 billion, making it one of the biggest UK medical charities by size of investment.[12]

In 2021, LifeArc launched a new strategy and a commitment to invest up to £1.3 billion by 2030 in life science research.[13] At the same time, the charity announced a new approach for treating Alzheimer's disease, a result of a partnership with the Universities of Leicester and Göttingen.[14]

Key achievements
  • Over 400 commercial licences signed
  • Helped launch 12 drugs on the market
  • Helped form 18 start ups
  • Generated over £600 million in revenues for the MRC
  • Humanized four antibodies now on the market

References
  1. "LifeArc, registered charity no. 1015243". Charity Commission for England and Wales.
  2. Paul Feldman, Corinna Lotz, A world to win: a rough guide to a future without global capitalism, 2004, Lupus Books, ISBN 0952345412, 9780952345411
  3. Sir David Cooksey (12 January 2006). "A Review of UK Health Funding" (PDF). The Stationery Office. p. 20.
  4. admin@twk (14 June 2017). "LifeArc set to transform medical research landscape". LifeArc. Retrieved 2 August 2023.
  5. "Therapeutic Antibodies and the LMB". MRC Laboratory of Molecular Biology. Archived from the original on 22 March 2010. Retrieved 17 February 2012.
  6. Mark Wigglesworth, Terry Wood, eds, Management of Chemical and Biological Samples for Screening Applications, 2012, John Wiley & Sons, ISBN 3527645276, 9783527645275, google books
  7. "AstraZeneca and MRC Technology Form Strategic Alliance in Discovery Research, Utilising Shared Compound Libraries". AstraZeneca. Retrieved 3 January 2013.
  8. Edelson, Steve (2013). "Translational Globetrotting". SciBX: Science-Business eXchange. 6 (4): 78. doi:10.1038/scibx.2013.78.
  9. "Stevenage BioScience Catalyst | LifeArc set to transform medical research landscape |". www.stevenagecatalyst.com. Retrieved 30 March 2019.
  10. "Home". dementiaconsortium.org. Retrieved 2 August 2023.
  11. "Cancer Research UK, LifeArc and Ono Pharma form cancer therapy alliance". Hospital Healthcare Europe. 28 March 2019. Retrieved 30 March 2019.
  12. "LifeArc monetises Keytruda® royalty interests to fund further research and investment". LifeArc. 20 May 2019. Retrieved 12 July 2019.
  13. "LifeArc commits to £1.3bn by 2030 to deliver new innovations". Med-Tech Innovation. 22 November 2021. Retrieved 24 November 2021.
  14. "New Alzheimer's treatment hailed by researchers". BBC News. 19 November 2021. Retrieved 24 November 2021.
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