Accelerating dementia drug discovery

AstronauTx is a biotech company that builds on research from the Alzheimer's Research UK UCL Drug Discovery Institute (DDI). Launched in 2019, it has attracted £7.5 million of investment.

In the UK, 850,000 people live with dementia, and it's estimated that this will increase to over one million by 2025. The UCL Faculty of Brain Sciences is a leading hub for dementia research and home to some of the most influential academics in the field. Our research centres and departments address a spectrum of needs, from how best to support dementia patients and their families to increasing our understanding of the origins of dementia.

The DDI focuses on novel approaches to tackling diseases that cause dementia, and its pioneering research led to the creation of AstronauTx. The biotech is developing medicines designed to control the activity of astrocytes. Astrocytes are critical support cells in the brain that keep the nerve cells functioning. In Alzheimer's, they change and become damaging. Working with the DDI, UCL Business, part of UCL Innovation & Enterprise, licensed the next stages of the drug discovery process to AstronauTx.

In August 2019, AstronauTx received £6.5 million investment from the Dementia Discovery Fund. The Dementia Discovery Fund is the world's largest fund concentrating on a single research area. The UK Government, top pharmaceutical companies, including GSK and Pfizer, and the charity Alzheimer's Research UK established the fund.  

In March 2020, AstronauTx received an additional £1 million investment from the UCL Technology Fund. The UCL Technology Fund is a £53.3 million fund that invests in licensing projects and spinout companies arising from UCL's knowledge base.

Read more about AstronauTx and the Dementia Discovery Fund