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Maxwellia, a pioneering British business that is poised to transform the UK’s self-care market through its specialist model of making more medicines available to buy from UK pharmacies has received a £500k investment from the UK Government via conversion of its Government backed ‘Future Fund’ loan into equity giving the British Business Bank a 7.4% stake in the company.
In response to the Covid 19 challenge, the Future Fund was launched as a new £250m initiative unveiled by the Chancellor of the Exchequer, Rishi Sunak, in April last year. Designed to help support UK businesses navigate the challenges presented by the global Covid-19 pandemic, the Future Fund has provided government-backed loans worth between £125,000 and £5 million to innovative businesses. Qualifying criteria required that a half or more employees, of successful companies, are UK-based or that half or more revenues are from UK sales and that the sum loaned at least matched by private investors.
The scheme delivered by the British Business Bank closed at the end of January 2021. As of 20 October 2020, the Future Fund had provided £771 million of funding to 745 companies.
Maxwellia, based at Alderley Park near Manchester is an established company within the Northern Powerhouse – a government initiative promoting economic growth and talent in the UK‘s great northern cities. Founded in 2013 by Chief Executive Anna Maxwell – a registered pharmacist with over 20 years’ experience, the business specialises solely in ‘switching’, a rigorous process in which prescription only medication is reclassified and made available over the counter.
Maxwellia’s push to convert more prescription medicines to over-the-counter medicines will put pharmacists at heart of nation’s public health, helping futureproof the NHS. The female founded company is, on approval by the regulator, currently poised to create a major step-change in women’s health through a breakthrough launch that finally, after almost 60 years, will enable a widely used prescription only medicine to be be available to buy from local pharmacies.
In addition to the Future Fund, Maxwellia has secured investment from Manchester-based Praetura Ventures, Catapult Ventures, Alderley Park Ventures, Biocity and angel investors in a funding round that closed at £3.28m.
Anna Maxwell says: “We are so proud to be building a new British business in the North West that has innovation at its core and to be a cog in the growth engine of GBplc (Great Britain Limited) that will help us soften the economic impact of the pandemic in time. ‘Switching’ widens access to medicine, supports self-care and patient well-being while reducing the burden on public services such as GPs. The government is supportive of encouraging self-care and widening access to medicines, as well as promoting the role that pharmacists can play in communities to reduce pressure on the NHS.”
Maxwellia already has three applications under assessment including women’s health products. The company has a robust pipeline of consumer health care brands that it is developing for over-the-counter sale. Maxwellia will use the funding to scale up the manufacture and rollout of its approved drugs, invest in marketing to drive greater consumer awareness on major health conditions and expand its team.
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