LifeArc is a British life science medical research charity. It was established in 2000 as MRC Technology to

translate Translation is the communication of the meaning of a source-language text by means of an equivalent target-language text. The English language draws a terminological distinction (which does not exist in every language) between ''transla ...

the work of UK Medical Research Council (MRC) research scientists. Today, LifeArc provides

intellectual property Intellectual property (IP) is a category of property that includes intangible creations of the human intellect. There are many types of intellectual property, and some countries recognize more than others. The best-known types are patents, co ...

identification, protection and commercialisation, technology development, diagnostic development, early stage

drug discovery In the fields of medicine, biotechnology, and pharmacology, drug discovery is the process by which new candidate medications are discovered. Historically, drugs were discovered by identifying the active ingredient from traditional remedies or ...

and antibody humanization services for academic, biotechnological and pharmaceutical organisations. Profits from LifeArc's activities are reinvested into further research.

History

The organisation was set up as a charity and a company limited by guarantee in 2000 to incorporate patenting, licensing and research functions. LifeArc humanised a number of antibodies on behalf of other organisations. Four of these, Tysabri (Biogen Idec/Elan), Actemra (Hoffmann-La Roche/Chugai), Entyvio (Millenium Pharma/Takeda) and Keytruda (Merck/MSD), are licensed drugs. In 2010, LifeArc signed a deal with the drug company

AstraZeneca AstraZeneca plc () (AZ) is a British-Swedish multinational pharmaceutical and biotechnology company with its headquarters at the Cambridge Biomedical Campus in Cambridge, UK. It has a portfolio of products for major diseases in areas includi ...

to share chemical compounds to help identify potential treatments for serious diseases. LifeArc is a member of a Global Drug Discovery Alliance along with the Centre for Drug Research and Development,

the Scripps Research Institute Scripps Research is a nonprofit American medical research facility that focuses on research and education in the biomedical sciences. Headquartered in San Diego, California, the institute has over 170 laboratories employing 2,100 scientists, tec ...

, Cancer Research Technology, the Lead Discovery Centre and the Centre for Drug Design and Discovery. Through its earnings from licensing agreements, LifeArc provides funding for academic research and early-stage medical research. In March 2019, LifeArc joined with

Cancer Research UK Cancer Research UK (CRUK) is the world's largest independent cancer research organisation. It is registered as a charity in the United Kingdom and Isle of Man, and was formed on 4 February 2002 by the merger of The Cancer Research Campaign and t ...

and Ono Pharma to progress new immunotherapy drug targets for cancer. In May 2019, LifeArc announced it had sold part of its royalty rights for Keytruda to a subsidiary of Canada Pension Plan Investment Board (CPPIB) for US$1.297 billion, making it one of the biggest UK medical charities by size of investment. The charity claims that it has found a new approach for treating Alzheimer's disease in research carried out with the Universities of Leicester and Göttingen. LifeArc is based in

Tavistock Square Tavistock Square is a public square in Bloomsbury, in the London Borough of Camden near Euston Station. History Tavistock Square was built shortly after 1806 by the property developer James Burton and the master builder Thomas Cubitt for Fr ...

in Bloomsbury. As of 2025, it intends to occupy a large Edwardian building at 105-121 Judd Street, London WC1H 9NE, close to the

Francis Crick Institute The Francis Crick Institute (formerly the UK Centre for Medical Research and Innovation) is a biomedical research centre in London, which was established in 2010 and opened in 2016. The institute is a partnership between Cancer Research UK, Im ...

. The building was originally occupied by the Salvation Army and was latterly the headquarters of the Royal National Institute for the Blind. The interior has been demolished and will be rebuilt as offices and laboratories.

References

External links

LifeArc's website
{{authority control Technology transfer Companies based in the London Borough of Camden Medical research institutes in the United Kingdom Charities based in London