Orbit Discovery

Orbit Discovery is a biopharmaceutical company that provides peptide discovery services for the pharmaceutical and biotechnology sectors. The company originated as a spin-out from the University of Oxford in 2015, founded by Professor Graham Ogg and Professor Terry Rabbitts to commercialize a novel peptide screening platform developed at the university. The founders' technology was initially designed to present a diverse library of peptides to T-cells with unknown specificity to identify their epitopes, a task that was difficult with other display technologies.

The company's business model centers on providing functional screening services and entering into collaborative co-development projects with major pharmaceutical companies. Its revenue is generated through these partnerships and service provisions, aimed at identifying peptide therapeutic hits. Orbit Discovery has secured significant funding to support its growth, including a Series A round of £6.9 million ($9.2M) in 2018 and an additional $7.6 million in 2021, with investors such as Oxford Science Enterprises, Borealis Ventures, and RT Ventures.

The core of Orbit Discovery's offering is its proprietary peptide discovery platform, which combines a bead-based display system with microfluidics to enable high-throughput functional screening of large peptide libraries. This technology allows for the screening of peptides against various targets, including challenging ones like G-protein coupled receptors (GPCRs), and supports the identification of peptides for applications in radionuclide targeting, nucleic acid delivery, and targeted protein degradation. The platform is notable for its ability to unite high-throughput affinity screens with functional cell-based assays, addressing a key gap in the drug discovery market. It can handle massive libraries of both natural and non-natural peptides, including linear and macrocyclic structures, providing a starting point for the development of various therapeutics.

Keywords: peptide discovery, drug discovery services, therapeutic peptides, functional screening, bead-based display, microfluidics, biopharmaceutical, G-protein coupled receptors, GPCR, radiopharmaceutical targeting, nucleic acid delivery, targeted protein degradation, affinity screening, drug development, Oxford spin-out