A Belfast early-stage tech company is making a half million pound investment which will help eradicate errors when scientists input trial results from notebooks and excel spreadsheets.
Overwatch Research said that by tackling the global issue of “experimental errors” it can improve the quality of life for millions of people by making the drug development process faster, safer and more scientifically reliable.
It will invest the funding in research and development to develop further its software platform, one which is already grabbing attention in the US and elsewhere.
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Overwatch’s customers include Boston-based Blueprint Medicines, The Institute of Cancer Research in London and a global pharmaceutical company who recently agreed a multi-year seven-figure licence deal.
The company’s software works by reducing errors in the logging of important data in preclinical research, improving the drug development process for global pharmaceutical companies.
“Many research scientists still use a mixture of paper-based notebooks and Microsoft Excel spreadsheets as key elements of their laboratory toolkits while recent US pharmaceutical industry research has shown that experimental mistakes cost the industry billions every year,” Overwatch Chief Executive, Dr Chris Armstrong, said. “The idea for our software came from our ambition to create a product to revolutionise how pre-clinical drug development studies are managed and performed, ultimately offering a software package that could address the high rate of failure in later clinical trials.”
It first brought its software to market in 2019 and has been helped by Invest Northern Ireland to the tune of £259,290 to hire six staff and for research and development and marketing development.
“Overwatch is a great example of how investing in innovation and R&D can open major global business opportunities for a company,” Kevin Holland, Invest NI’s CEO said. “Our Grant for R&D supports Northern Ireland companies to develop products and services, which helps to strengthen their competitiveness in the global marketplace.
“Over the last three years, we have built a strong partnership with Overwatch, helping it to add six new staff and develop their world-class software platform, which ultimately enables pharmaceutical companies to get drugs to market quicker.”