Fusion Antibodies awarded Platinum Level Innovator Status by Innovate NI

Fusion Antibodies is delighted to be recognised as a Platinum Level Innovator in the Innovate NI Innovation Accreditation programme from the Department for the Economy.

Belfast, UK – (25 February, 2021) – The scheme recognises businesses across Northern Ireland who have shown innovation in their processes, products and or services. The platinum level indicates Fusion Antibodies have secured commercial benefits from their innovation. Fusion Antibodies have received this certification for their innovative antibody engineering and discovery platforms which have been developed based on their own intelligent design.

The Programme aims to highlight the importance of innovation for business growth, create more awareness of the value of innovation, as well as how to innovate. The ultimate goal is to increase the number of Northern Ireland businesses successfully engaging in innovation activity.

On receiving the award Dr Richard Jones, CEO of Fusion Antibodies, said: “We are delighted to receive this award and I would like to thank our tremendous team who embody the spirit of innovation. At Fusion we are continuously innovating to enhance our capability to deliver services and solutions that allow our clients to develop the best possible antibodies against their target getting them closer to their end goal; the provision of treatments that improve the lives of patients throughout the world.

“Unlike many of our competition, our library design approach explores the natural hypermutation space; in essence, we believe that when it comes to engineering antibodies, the sequence should be kept as natural as possible and so ‘mimics’ the human system.

“I am immensely proud of what everyone has worked so hard together to achieve.  It’s a great way to start 2021 which promises to be another exciting year for the company, with a number of new exciting developments already in the pipeline.”

Economy Minister Diane Dodds said: “The Innovation Accreditation Programme supports businesses to invest in innovation and improve their competitiveness. The scheme emphasises the value of innovation for business growth. Innovation is so important at this difficult time because it is essential to economic recovery. I want to congratulation Fusion Antibodies on this award and on their work on in advancing the life sciences sector.”

Congratulating the company, Dr Vicky Kell, Invest NI’s Director of Innovation, Research & Development said: “Fusion Antibodies is a highly innovative company which has benefitted from Invest NI support for R&D to position itself as a world leader in antibody development.

“It has never been more critical to support innovation within the life sciences industry and Fusion Antibodies is an excellent example of an organisation recognising the importance of investing in R&D to maintain a competitive business beyond COVID-19. 

“It is great to see the company’s hard work, effort and determination being recognised through the Innovation Accreditation Programme.

“Platinum is the highest achievable accolade awarded through the Innovation Accreditation Programme and recognises how Fusion Antibodies, through its cutting-edge research and development strategy, has created value for its business.  This culture of innovation will undoubtedly lead to future success and I look forward to following their innovation journey.” 

Local businesses can find out more about the Innovation Accreditation Programme at www.innovateni.com

About Fusion Antibodies plc 

Established in 2001 as a spin out from Queens University Belfast, Fusion Antibodies are a Collaborative Research Organisation (CRO) providing antibody discovery, engineering and supply, through to cell line development. The Company’s mission is to enable pharmaceutical and diagnostic companies to develop innovative products in a timely and cost-effective manner for the benefit of the global healthcare industry.

Fusion Antibodies world-class humanization and antibody optimization platforms harnesses the power of the natural somatic hypermutation space. To address remaining market needs in antibody discovery, Fusion is creating a breakthrough fully human antibody library to capture the entire human antibody repertoire.

Fusion provides a broad range of services in antibody generation, development, production, characterisation and optimisation. These services include antigen expression, antibody production, purification and sequencing, antibody humanisation using Fusion's proprietary CDRx™ platform and the production of antibody generating stable cell lines to provide material for use in clinical trials.