Record-breaking UK biotech firm in near £3 million collapse

OxStem Limited, which was based in Park End Street in Oxford and founded by Oxford University scientists, was looking into ways of slowing down aging among other projects.

First founded in 2014, the firm announced a £16.9 million investment in 2016, with it representing a record amount for a UK academic spinout – a company designed to commercialise research – at the time.

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This was to fight age-related conditions such as cancer and neurodegenerative diseases including Alzheimer’s.

According to Fierce Biotech – which reported on the investment – this followed other firms which were looking to ‘cure old age’, with the money going towards developing small-molecule drugs that can activate repair mechanisms that already exist within the body.

Among those cited as founders of the firm were several Oxford University scientists including Professor Steve Davies and Professor Angela Russell.

OxStem was based at Park End Street (Image: Google Maps)

Both individuals are associated with the Department of Chemistry.

Professor Davies said in 2016: “We are tackling many of the worst conditions associated with ageing: dementia, heart failure, cancer and macular degeneration, which is the leading cause of blindness in the developed world.”

In addition a number of subsidiary companies were founded including OxStem Ocular and OxStem Neuro, which have since either been dissolved or are also in liquidation.

Professor Angela Russell, left, in the lab. (Image: NQ)

In 2019, things seemingly remained positive for the firm with reports indicating that they were looking for funding so their ‘regenerative medicine strategy’ could advance to clinical trials.

However, following that, financial difficulties appeared and in 2022 liquidators from Quantuma Advisory Limited were appointed.

In its financial accounts to June 2021, OxStem revealed creditors falling due within one year of £2.7 million, although it also reported cash at the bank and in hand of £2.4 million.

At that time the average number of employees on the books was nine, with all staff having since been dismissed.

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Though the company had already collapsed, the liquidation proved more complex due to complexities around the selling of assets and because the University of Oxford has put in a creditor claim worth over £3m which is reportedly subject to arbitration proceedings.

As such, the liquidation process is still ongoing.

However, the deadline for those who claim to be owed money by the firm to prove their debts – which was set for June 19 – has since passed.

In particular this call was aimed at ‘unsecured creditors’, meaning an individual or business which has loaned money without taking collateral to secure the debt.