RNA-based medicines for hearing loss. Delivered.
News
Latest CamGene Updates
About
The WHO predicts hearing loss will impact 1 in 10 people by 2050. Medical devices are the standard of care, but they are ineffective for many people.
Despite a prevalence greater than cancer or diabetes, there are currently no treatments available to treat the underlying cellular dysfunction which is the root cause of hearing loss.
We believe RNA-based therapeutics such as mRNA, siRNA, antisense oligonucleotides, and other RNA modalities hold transformative potential for addressing diverse forms of hearing loss through targeted, molecular-level intervention.
Technology
Our lipid nanoparticle based RNA technology enables us to modulate protein expression for regeneration and protection of key cells in the cochlea, all at a cost that will make it feasible to create an accessible mass market medicine.
Team
A founding team of world-class scientists, surgeons and entrepreneurs
Arpan Desai PhD CEO
Prof Manohar Bance CSO
Dr Matthew Smith CMO
Paul McKay PhD CTO
Arpan Desai PhD CEO
Arpan Desai PhD is CEO and Co-Founder of CamGene, he has over a decade of experience leading project and platform initiatives in the RNA therapeutics space. He has a track record of creating innovative delivery approaches and progressing LNP-based projects from discovery into the clinic across multiple therapeutic areas.
Previously he was MD of NanoVation therapeutics UK, a LNP platform technology company set up by LNP pioneers Professor Pieter Cullis and Professor Dame Molly Stevens. Prior to this he served as a director at AstraZeneca, where he was been involved in leading projects and platform initiatives related to ASOs, anti-miRNA, mRNA for gene editing, vaccines, and protein replacement. This has included playing key roles in collaborations with Moderna, Ionis, VaxEquity and Regulus. He established and led a global matrix team of RNA delivery scientists with the mission of creating new delivery technologies for mRNA. He established key infrastructure for the design and optimization of LNPs. Moreover, several key advances in LNP platform science were obtained, such as the development of a proteomic based screening method for in vivo LNP assessment, evaluation of higher throughput methods for DMTA of LNPs and evaluation of almost 100 external technologies to name a few. His work on understanding how LNPs interact with different tumour cells facilitated the selection of preclinical models to assess LNP performance. This ultimately resulted in AZs first LNP based mRNA project progressing to the clinic – MEDI1191 (partnered with Moderna Therapeutics).
Prof Manohar Bance CSO
Co-Founder and Scientific Advisor. Prof Manohar Bance is the Professor of Otology and Skull Base Surgery at the University of Cambridge since 2017. Prior to that he was Prof. and Chair of Otolaryngology at Dalhousie University in Canada. His research interests include optimizing cochlear implants, technology development, surgical outcomes, automated image analysis, new diagnostics, wearable technologies, inner ear pharmacokinetics, and developing new hearing and balance therapies.
He is clinically and surgically active at in otologic and skull base surgery, vestibular disorders, and implants at Cambridge University Hospitals Trust (Addenbrookes) and runs a basic science lab at the Clifford Albutt Building, Biomedical Campus. The Sensory Encoding and Neurosensory Engineering Lab he directs is very multidisciplinary, with cell biologists, physicists, engineers, and medical graduates working together on translational problems in hearing, balance, and neuroscience topics. He collaborates closely with the other researchers and surgeons in Cambridge, and with Engineering Faculty members, as well as nationally and internationally.
Currently, he is the President of the Royal Society of Medicine Section of Otology, and of the British Cochlear Implant Group.
Dr Matthew Smith CMO
Co-Founder and Scientific Advisor. Dr Matthew Smith is a consultant otologist at Addenbrooke’s Hospital in Cambridge UK, and Senior Clinical Lecturer at the University of Cambridge. He qualified from the University of Cambridge and trained in the East of England including a PhD focussing on Eustachian tube dysfunction and its treatment. Matthew’s clinical work spans neurotology and hearing implants He is a surgeon-scientist with academic interests primarily in clinical trials and device development. He is co-CI for the NIHR-funded STARFISH trial exploring different routes of steroi administration for sudden sensorineural hearing loss, and CI for the DEFINE trial investigating remote tinnitus treatment. Matthew co-founded INTEGRATE, the UK ENT Trainee Research Network, is a British Society of Otology council member and is otology Associate Editor for Clinical Otolaryngology.
Paul McKay PhD CTO
Co-Founder and Chief Technology Officer. Dr Paul McKay is a leading expert in RNA therapeutics development, with over two decades of experience spanning academia and industry. He is the inventor on 11 patents and has authored more than 85 peer-reviewed publications. Paul played a pivotal role in the development of a COVID-19 RNA vaccine at Imperial College London, guiding it from concept to clinical trial. He has held senior leadership roles at VaxEquity Ltd and Imperial College, where he led cross-functional teams, managed international collaborations, and drove innovation in self-amplifying RNA (saRNA) technologies. Paul is known for his strategic vision, operational excellence, and commitment to mentoring the next generation of scientists.
Origins
CEO and co-founder Arpan Desai comes across a news article about the 50th anniversary of the discovery DNA, triggering what will become a life-long passion for learning about genomic medicine. Following a PhD developing nanoparticle delivery systems for RNA, he joins AstraZeneca in Cheshire where he helps to develop some of the first RNA -based medicines via a collaboration with Moderna.
The Cambridge Effect
Arpan moves to Cambridge where he meets serial entrepreneurs Prashant and Sunil Shah who are building a science park in his village (Hauxton, Cambridge). They see a big opportunity with LNP-RNA therapeutics and decide, when the time is right, they will form a company together!
Catalyst
RNA-technology enabled by lipid nanoparticles is the spectacular success story of the COVID-19 pandemic. Arpan is introduced to one of his scientific heroes - Professor Pieter Cullis, the architect of the LNPs used in the COVID vaccine. They work together to set up the UK arm of Pieter’s new company NanoVation Therapeutics with Dame Professor Molly Stevens.
A big idea
Arpan starts discussing RNA therapeutics with leading ear surgeon-scientist and family friend Matt Smith. They brainstorm with hearing loss pioneers Professor Manohar Bance and Dr Alan Foster and come up with an idea they think will revolutionise the treatment of hearing loss. Sunil helps develop the commercial strategy and invests - CamGene Therapeutics is born!
Execution
The time is now! Arpan joins CamGene full time and establishes a lab making LNP-RNA at Sunil and Prashant’s Science Park in Hauxton, Cambridge. The team is working on building out a full feasibility data package. Watch this space!
Investors
