Metrion Biosciences was founded as a new company in 2015 through a management buyout of the research division of Xention Limited and its ion channel collaboration programmes. During the period 2002-2005, the Xention team had pioneered the use of automated patch clamp electrophysiology in drug discovery, and subsequently developed substantial expertise in cardiac ion channels, leading to the clinical development of potassium channel inhibitors as novel treatments for atrial fibrillation in collaboration with Servier.
Following the establishment of Metrion Biosciences in 2015, the founding directors, Marc Rogers, John Ford and Keith McCullagh, re-focussed the extensive ion channel expertise of the research team and launched a specialist ion channel biology contract research service. Since then, the Metrion team has continued to grow through the recruitment of additional skilled ion channel and CRO experts and today, Metrion is a leading centre of excellence in ion channel biology, toxicology and drug discovery.
In 2019, Dr Andrew Southan was appointed as Metrion’s first Chief Executive Officer, having joined from Charles River Laboratories in 2016 and previously been Metrion’s Chief Operating Officer. During the 5 years of Andy Southan’s leadership, Metrion significantly expanded its pharmaceutical and bioscience customer base and built a reputation for high quality science and personalised customer service. Andy Southan stepped down as CEO in November 2024 and on 2nd December 2024, Lee Patterson was appointed as Metrion’s new Chief Executive Officer. An experienced life science and CRO executive, Lee was previously CEO of Charnwood Discovery, an integrated preclinical CRO. Lee is a renowned leader in the sector with a reputation for steering preclinical CROs to improve efficiencies and achieve robust long term commercial growth.
During its first 5 years, Metrion was financed primarily from operating profits and limited investment from directors, management and staff. In 2018, the Company raised a small amount of external investment from o2h Ventures, a Cambridge based fund, and the Syndicate Room platform. In 2021, Gresham House Ventures led a £2.7m new equity round in Metrion Biosciences to enable investment into new laboratories , automated instrumentation and expansion of cell biology. In 2023, Maven Capital Partners led a £3.7m new equity investment round, supported by Gresham House and other shareholders to enable expansion of international business development and commercialisation.
Today, the Metrion team has developed a world-wide reputation for providing high quality drug discovery services on innovative and challenging ion channel targets for customers on a fee-for-service or collaboration basis. Metrion is also a leading provider of GLP and non-GLP cardiac safety profiling, cardiac translational assays and neuronal translational assays.
Our state of the art laboratory facility is located at Granta Park, the largest research park in Cambridge UK, situated at the heart of the Cambridge Biocluster. The Metrion team takes pride in providing a knowledgeable, collaborative and flexible service to our customers.
In the video, Dr Andy Southan presents an overview of Metrion’s services and expertise.