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East of England grant success

Sentinel appear as a case study for the East of England Development Agency (EEDA) grant for research and development.

Grant for Research and Development

Though they didn't know it at the time Bob Boyle and Stuart Travers' business partnership began when they met at Victoria Coach Station on the way to a stag weekend. As medicinal chemists the two men quickly discovered they had much in common, and when the opportunity arose they founded Sentinel Oncology as a working partnership in early 2005.

Unfortunately as with other innovators they found that taking the steps needed frompaid employment to self employment were difficult. As Bob says, “we needed to convince ourselves we had the bottle to do it.”

However, their conviction was fuelled by the belief that, given the chance, their work in developing a novel form of anti-cancer agent had a bright commercial future.

But inevitably the transformation of Sentinel Oncology from a theoretical business into a going concern depended on the availability of funds. A visit to Business Link sign-posted the way to EEDA who awarded the firm £74,000 from its grant for research and development scheme to help prove the scientific basis for their business. This was quickly followed by £100,000 from theCambridge Enterprise Seed Funds (CSEF).

The combination was just the boost they needed, as Stuart observes: “EEDA's support gave us the stamp of approval to go on to attract further interest.” The first expression of this was the development of a high-powered scientific advisory board and the creation of a global network of experts to help trial their research.

Then in early 2007 Sentinel Oncology successfully concluded a further funding round of £450,000 which led in turn to EEDA supplementing this with a development grant of £193,000.

“As scientists we found going through the investment process a very good discipline,” says Bob Boyle. “EEDA's support has been critical to our progress. Without it we would never have got going and our aim of seeing cancer as a disease you die of turned into one you die with would never have been made possible.”

July 20, 2007