- Northern Gritstone has committed £1.8 million to Apini, a spinout from the University of Manchester
- Apini is a novel small molecule therapeutic programme for the treatment of multiple chronic inflammatory diseases such as Crohn’s and Ulcerative Colitis
- Commitment follows existing Syncona investment as part of its accelerator Slingshot Therapeutics
11 June 2025 – Northern Gritstone, the groundbreaking life sciences and deeptech investment firm, has today announced a commitment to invest £1.8 million into Apini, a small molecule drug development programme being advanced by Syncona’s accelerator Slingshot Therapeutics (“Slingshot”).
Spun out of the University of Manchester, Apini is developing a novel small molecule for the treatment of chronic inflammatory diseases. Potential indications include Crohn’s disease and Ulcerative Colitis, the two most common forms of inflammatory bowel disease (IBD), which affects as many as 10 million people worldwide1. Apini is looking to address the significant unmet need in this area of medicine through targeted modulation of eNAMPT, an enzyme implicated in multiple inflammatory conditions.
Preclinical studies demonstrate the potential for selective eNAMPT modulators to treat various inflammatory diseases without inducting immune suppression.
Apini was discovered by founding scientist Professor Sam Butterworth, who is world-renowned for his work in the invention of Tagrisso, a life-saving anti-cancer drug for EGFR mutant lung cancer that is used globally.
Slingshot was built by Syncona with an initial commitment of £12.5 million to identify and advance de-risked therapeutic programmes from the work of leading academic researchers. Apini is the first company to work with Slingshot, following its launch in November 2024, with Northern Gritstone becoming the first co-investor.
Apini’s funding from Northern Gritstone and Syncona will be delivered over three tranches tied to company milestones, with the original commitment unchanged in value.
Northern Gritstone Chief Executive, Duncan Johnson, said: “Apini is based on the groundbreaking drug development work of Professor Sam Butterworth from the University of Manchester, and is a fantastic example of life sciences company creation based on world-class research. We’re delighted to invest in Apini, alongside Syncona, and with the support of the Slingshot accelerator”
Founder of Apini, Professor Sam Butterworth said: “This investment from Northern Gritstone supports Apini’s mission to treat inflammatory diseases without the induction of immune suppression. We look forward to advancing and accelerating the Apini programme which we believe can bring meaningful improvements to patients across a broad range of chronic inflammatory diseases.”
Executive Chair of Slingshot, Edward Hodgkin added: “We are delighted to welcome Northern Gritstone as an investment partner for Apini, with the investment providing further validation of this novel programme. We believe that Slingshot’s expertise and operational support has the ability to accelerate exceptional academic science, like Apini, into attractive biotech assets that can quickly and effectively transform into groundbreaking treatments for patients.”
Notes to editors
About Northern Gritstone
Northern Gritstone is an investment company, dedicated to supporting ambitious science and technology businesses in the North of England. Its philosophy is ‘profit with purpose’ combining strong returns for investors with wider positive, societal and economic impact, including high-skilled job creation and regional growth. Chaired by Lord Jim O’Neill, the company has made 37 investments in some of the UK’s most exciting future businesses.
Together with its early-stage ‘toolkit’ NG Innovation Services, Northern Gritstone offers ‘Capital+++’ connecting early-stage company founders with funding and expertise to scale their businesses.
Northern Gritstone benefits from a long-term relationship with its Founding University Partners of The Universities of Leeds, Manchester and Sheffield.
For more information, please go to: https://northern-gritstone.com/
For media enquiries please contact kate.spencer@northern-gritstone.com
About Slingshot
Slingshot Therapeutics Limited, the Syncona Accelerator, was built to identify and advance de-risked therapeutic programmes from the work of leading academic researchers.
Slingshot provides an innovative platform with access to centralised expertise, resource, funding and operational support to accelerate exceptional academic science into attractive biotech assets ready for clinical development. Slingshot aims to accumulate a pipeline of small molecule programmes across a range of therapeutics areas where there is significant unmet medical need, identified from world-leading academic institutions in the UK, US and Europe. For more information please visit: slingshot-accelerator.co.uk
Slingshot Therapeutics: info@slingshot-accelerator.co.uk
FTI Consulting: Tim Stamper / Lucy Molloy / SlingshotTx@fticonsulting.com
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1The European Federation of Crohn's & Ulcerative Colitis Associations (EFCCA)