Auralis secures funding to develop niche pharmaceutical products

Edinburgh, June 2009 - Pharmaceutical company Auralis has secured £1.5m funding from The Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS) which will enable the drug development firm to expand by developing new products and bringing them to market in the next two years.

Founded in 2005 by entrepreneurs Andy Sneddon and Simon Bryson, Auralis specialises in the development of niche, non-brand pharmaceuticals for which there is a critical need. The firm currently supplies the opiate pain relief injection diamorphine in five different dosages. Its customers include a number of NHS Trusts - both for primary care and hospital use - and nearly half of all retail pharmacies across the UK. The funding that has been secured allows Auralis to grow via the development of new products, focusing on the paediatrics market, and to extend its reach into continental Europe.

Sneddon expects the additional finance, two-thirds of which was provided by RBS via the UK government's Enterprise Finance Guarantee (EFG) scheme, to facilitate the generation of significant additional revenue for the business within 12 months. Most importantly for Sneddon, it will also help Auralis make available a new range of products tailored to the needs of patients. The firm has a proven track record in taking commercial products from conception to commercialisation, with the goal of ensuring the availability of important pharmaceutical products which address unfulfilled medical needs.

Sneddon and Bryson were delighted recently to secure the services of Dr Clive Dix as non-executive chairman of Auralis. Dix is a former chief executive of Oxford-based vaccines company PowderMed Ltd and is also the current chairman of the UK BioIndustry Association (BIA).

Andy Sneddon, co-founder of Auralis, said:

"Our business is sustainable as it stands but we are very ambitious and believe we have a great opportunity to develop and provide more products that will make a significant difference to patients - particularly young children - with a range of medical conditions.

"Clive's appointment has been a real boost for the firm. He has the industry knowledge, expertise and commercial acumen to support and challenge us as a management team as we embark upon the next phase of our growth as a business."

Dr Clive Dix, non-executive chairman of Auralis, said:

"Auralis has a clearly defined product development strategy focused upon three key therapeutic franchise areas - critical care, paediatrics, and addiction. We are making good progress with a portfolio of drug development programmes spanning these three areas and the new funding we have raised gives us the ability to really push those programmes forward at pace now, with the aim of delivering products to market within the next couple of years. I'm very glad to have become involved at this stage in the company's development."

In addition to the £1m EFG loan from RBS, the bank's invoice finance division, RBSIF, has put in place a £400,000 facility to support Auralis's working capital requirements.

Ken Brown, director of healthcare, RBS Business & Commercial Banking, Scotland, said:

"Auralis has the vision and opportunity to replicate the success of its first product through further development activities and to realise the firm's significant potential for growth. The business already has strong revenue streams underpinned by long term supply contracts, and it now has the capital necessary to develop much needed products and accelerate its business plan over the course of the next few years."

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