Added successfully to RFQ list

Added successfully to compare list

section-image

Programme Overview

o2h discovery InflexionTx is a match funding offer of integrated biology, chemistry, and analytical capabilities for critical proof of concept studies that will unlock high-value ideas, assets, and near-misses.

The match funding offer for pipeline co-research comes in bundles of USD 50k, 100k or 250k. A high velocity diligence and mobilisation phase will see the science move onto the bench within a month. In return o2h discovery is open to accepting a simple 'off-the-shelf' share in the IP/program in the form of sweat equity, milestones/royalties or deferred success payments which provides a low-friction start point.

questionmark

Why o2h discovery - InflexionTx

We are in an era of exciting new science. Pharma and biotech are often required to make extremely pressured decisions on the deployment of scarce funds and resources in order to meet stakeholder expectations. The commercial biopharma paradigm requires companies to quickly move assets from preclinical to clinical along a focused strategic journey to help access critical stakeholder support for milestone payments and further funding.

In the wake of this approach, clinical trials which fail, or assets which or are seen to have fallen out of market favour, or do not fit a therapeutic strategy leaving other indications unexplored, or which may be contrarian to prevailing trends, or the science may still be experimental with few precedences, or maybe missing a loving champion, may get parked.

The inflexion Tx thought process takes a step back from the leading investor attention programs. It looks at those unexplored hunches, which require a critical but cost effective proof of concept studies. If it works, it enables a critical piece of insight/data that will open larger funding pots, and then become a key component of the company’s core pipeline and front-line strategy. Time lost on these parked assets is value lost and sharing some of the value in return for mobilising these ideas is the gap that could be filled with o2h discovery Inflexion Tx.

How it works

A Collaborative 3-Stage Model

digit-image
Value Inflexion
  • o2h discovery co-invests and brings expertise in chemistry, biology, and ADME/DMPK
  • Accelerates hit identification, lead optimization, and asset evaluation
  • Takes a minor sweat equity stake, aligning success with your programme’s progress
digit-image
Milestone-Driven, Collaborative Development
  • Collaborate via a milestone-based plan to reduce technical risk and generate robust data
  • Support scientific, strategic, and operational needs to validate results and optimize development
  • Help shape the asset for clinical planning, out-licensing, or investment to unlock follow-on funding
digit-image
Spin-Out, Licensing, or Investment Readiness
  • Support transition to commercialisation at key inflexion points like PoC or IND-enabling data
  • Facilitate spin-outs, licensing, or investment for industry adoption
  • Ensure IP ownership stays with the collaborator

Why o2h discovery?

Founded in 2004, o2h discovery operates a multi-modality, integrated drug discovery platform from Cambridge, UK, and Ahmedabad, India, with core expertise spanning chemistry, biology, pharmacology, and the ongoing project management of pre-clinical development, from our state-of-the-art biotechnology incubator, we possess the in-house capabilities to execute comprehensive hit-to-lead and lead optimization programs, advancing projects toward patent filings and IND-enabling studies.

The o2h ventures division has supported seed stage discovery investment and is on standby to support eligible assets/companies during the second or third stage of the model.

Know more
img

Our Capabilities

o2h has invested in state-of-the-art technology platforms for your preclinical drug discovery programs through lead optimization to candidate selection & further development to IND filing.

Our experienced cell biologists in Cambridge, UK can develop customizable assays for diverse target classes. Compounds can be profiled for their potency to efficacy translation in cellular assays for functional characterization and MOA.

Our vision is to build a highly collaborative environment with seamless technology transfer across UK and India teams to bridge the best of academic and industrial intellectual capabilities that facilitate faster problem solving for your research projects.

img

Chemistry

The specialised team at o2h discovery has a broad array of experience in preparing small-molecule NCEs (Novel Chemical Entities) with the requisite high-quality specifications. It is proficient in utilising perse methodologies, including the synthesis of singles, multi-step, small arrays as well as focused libraries. Our scientific team is also experienced in the parallel construction of focused libraries for use in hit-to-lead and lead optimisation projects.

Our capabilities include: Novel Chemical Entities​, Complex Molecules​, Discovery Scaffolds​, Literature Compounds​, Focused Libraries​, Ref. Standards & Impurities​, Process development​, Non-GMP scale up​, Peptide Synthesis​ and more.

Our chemistry diversity include: Heterocyclic Chemistry​, Sugar Chemistry​, PROTAC Chemistry​, Lipid Chemistry​, Natural Products​, Small and Complex Peptides​, ADC linkers​, Nucleosides and Nucleotides​, Biological tools​, Asymmetric Synthesis​ and more.

img

Biology & DMPK

Our team of experienced Ph.D. and Masters-level scientists delivers high-quality results across a broad range of therapeutic areas. Leveraging advanced technology platforms, we support every stage from target validation to pre-clinical candidate selection.

We can support you in accelerating your design-make-test-analyse cycles providing a robust iterative screening platform to advance your discovery program.

Our biology & DMPK capabilities include: Compound Screening​, In vivo PK/Tox/Efficacy Partnership​, Target validation, Mechanistic Studies, Biophysical/Biochemical and cellular assays, Phys-chem & In vitro ADME Profiling​.

img

Analytical

We have a specialist analytical team to support the decision-making needs and speed of the chemists. Our analytical team has experience in reaction monitoring, purity assessment/purification, separation and final product analysis.

Our analytical capabilities span comprehensive HPLC, LCMS, mass spectrometry, and NMR services for both qualitative and quantitative analysis. We offer deep expertise in structure characterization through NMR interpretation, HRMS/MS, and amino acid sequencing (MSMS) for peptides. Our team specializes in the purification of PROTACs, peptides, and lipids—including UV-inactive compounds—up to gram scale.

We also provide advanced chiral separation (mg to>g scale) using a wide range of chiral stationary phases and high-efficiency SFC, along with property determination tools such as Chamelog K, Chromlog D, EPSA, and impurity/product quantification.

Meet our team

member-img

Prashant Shah

CEO - o2h discovery and Co-Founder - o2h group

Prashant's Biography

Read more

Prashant Shah

CEO - o2h discovery and Co-Founder - o2h group

Prashant is a serial entrepreneur in life sciences and tech in which one of those companies was acquired by a public company. He is currently active in seed investing (a portfolio of ~50 companies), product/IP development, services, and building lab/office infrastructure. The early career was with the Strategy group at Accenture. He has a BEng, an MSc, in which he worked on the Human Genome Program at the Sanger Centre, and an MPhil in Management from the Judge Institute. Prashant is also a General Partner in the o2h SEIS/EIS Human Health Funds.


LinkedIn

member-img

Sunil Shah

CEO - o2h Ventures and Co-Founder - o2h discovery

Sunil's Biography

Read more

Sunil Shah

CEO - o2h Ventures and Co-Founder - o2h discovery

A serial entrepreneur having begun a career in the Life Sciences team at PA Consulting group followed by co-founding two companies in the information technology and life sciences sector. The second of these companies, Oxygen Healthcare Ltd was acquired by Piramal Enterprises Ltd (BSE: PEL). Sunil co-founded o2h ventures which involves discovery services / collaborations, seeding drug discovery, academic in-licensing and biotechnology incubation. Sunil has a degree in Biochemistry and an MBA from Cambridge University.


LinkedIn

member-img

Catherine Stace

Vice President - Business Development (East Coast USA) & Strategic Relationships

Catherine's Biography

Read more

Catherine Stace

Vice President - Business Development (East Coast USA) & Strategic Relationships

Catherine holds over 18 years of post-doctoral experience in therapeutic discovery, with strategic roles in biotechnology, consultancy, and CRO organizations. She has contributed to small molecule therapeutics, peptides, health tech, and engineering. She started her career at Isogenica and Bicycle Therapeutics, establishing therapeutic platforms and discovery programs. She has also consulted for various biotech and health tech start-ups to develop platform technologies at the intersection of biology and engineering. Before joining o2h, she was EVP of Business Development at Domainex, collaborating with companies in the UK, USA, and Europe.


LinkedIn

member-img

Andy Morley

Chief Scientific Officer

Andy's Biography

Read more

Andy Morley

Chief Scientific Officer

Andy is the Chief Scientific Officer (CSO) at o2h Discovery. He also leads scientific evaluations for investments and provides strategic scientific support across key portfolio projects for o2h Ventures. With over 25 years of experience as a Medicinal Chemist, Andy has worked with major pharmaceutical companies, including Sanofi-Aventis and AstraZeneca. He has contributed across all phases of drug discovery and has played a key role in advancing five candidates into clinical trials. Andy is also the author and inventor of over 55 publications and patents.


LinkedIn

member-img

Nilesh Dagia

Chief Special Projects Officer

Nilesh's Biography

Read more

Nilesh Dagia

Chief Special Projects Officer

Nilesh leads the global operations of o2h group covering a wide range of innovation led investment, life-science and technology businesses. He is also overseeing the development and execution of the new o2h discovery Shirish Research Centre in Ahmedabad, India. Prior to joining o2h group, Nilesh worked with Piramal Group in various capacities including as an Alliance Manager for a risk-share oncology-based collaboration with a US Big Pharma and has also worked as the Head of Biology in Piramal Discovery solutions. Nilesh obtained his Ph.D. from Ohio University and completed a post-doc in Immunology, Stem Cells and Regenerative Medicine at Harvard Medical School. He is the author and inventor of >30 life science patents and publications. He received the Young Scientist of India award from OPPI in 2010.


LinkedIn

member-img

Gayathri Sadasivam

Vice President - Biology

Gayathri's Biography

Read more

Gayathri Sadasivam

Vice President - Biology

Gayathri leads the biology capabilities in Ahmedabad, India and Cambridge, UK. She also significantly contributes to the business development with the o2h customers world-wide, understanding the market requirements, contributing to technology transfer and investment evaluations. Prior to this, she has worked for more than 2 decades in different therapeutic areas in both industry and academia. She has led multiple programs in drug discovery projects through lead optimization to candidate selection and further development to late stage clinical trials. She has worked in a multi-disciplinary environment, leading chemical biology efforts creating chemical tools that modulate novel class of “undruggable” targets. Gayathri has a Ph.D. in Neuroscience from the Brain Research Institute, Zurich, Switzerland.


LinkedIn

member-img

Tejas Upadhyay

Vice President - Business Development (USA)

Tejas's Biography

Read more

Tejas Upadhyay

Vice President - Business Development (USA)

Tejas holds a master’s degree from Gujarat University, earned his PhD in India, and gained valuable post-doctoral experience at the University of Glasgow in the United Kingdom. His professional journey commenced at Alembic, and he has since contributed his expertise to several contract research organisations, including Evotec, o2h, and Piramal. Currently, he oversees all projects in the USA region. With a background in chemistry, he boasts over two decades of experience in the field of preclinical drug discovery.


LinkedIn

member-img

Claudio Dagostin

Vice President - Business Development (UK & Europe)

Claudio's Biography

Read more

Claudio Dagostin

Vice President - Business Development (UK & Europe)

Claudio obtained his PhD in Chemistry (Mechanisms of Organic Reactions) from the University of Rome in 2000. He went for a post-doc at Imperial College London where he worked on Alzheimer’s disease chemical probes. In 2004, he started working in several companies in the Cambridge biotech cluster where he deepened his knowledge in Medicinal Chemistry and in Fragment Based Drug Design. In 2012, he went back to academia at Cambridge University where he investigated challenging drug targets such as protein-protein interactions. He also co-founded the Entrepreneurial Postdocs of Cambridge (EPOC) society in 2015 to support postdocs in their pursuit of entrepreneurial careers. In 2017, joined Capital Cell with a role in Business Development, then Abzena in Cambridge and finally o2h in January 2021.


LinkedIn

Awards

latest news

Read about some of the most recent developments including research collaborations at o2h discovery

Speak to a member of our team

Contact us