
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.
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

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

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

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
Meet our team

Prashant Shah
CEO - o2h discovery and Co-Founder - o2h group
Prashant's Biography

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.

Sunil Shah
CEO - o2h Ventures and Co-Founder - o2h discovery
Sunil's Biography

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.

Catherine Stace
Vice President - Business Development (East Coast USA) & Strategic Relationships
Catherine's Biography

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.

Andy Morley
Chief Scientific Officer
Andy's Biography

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.

Nilesh Dagia
Chief Special Projects Officer
Nilesh's Biography

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.

Gayathri Sadasivam
Vice President - Biology
Gayathri's Biography

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.

Tejas Upadhyay
Vice President - Business Development (USA)
Tejas's Biography

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.

Claudio Dagostin
Vice President - Business Development (UK & Europe)
Claudio's Biography

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.
Awards
latest news
Read about some of the most recent developments including research collaborations at o2h discovery

Press Release
Ubiquigent wins o2h Kickstarter Award to support its strategy of enabling the development of novel DUB-targeting compounds
19 Mar 25

Blog
Revolutionising Drug Discovery: Harnessing the Power of FRET and BRET Assays
18 Mar 25

Blog
Advancing Mitochondrial Research with Innovative & Tailored Assays
21 Feb 25