Glasgow-based firm to ‘revolutionise’ respiratory medication with new multi-million-pound investment

The Glasgow-based medical devices developer Nebu-Flow has secured a £4.7m cash injection to accelerate the development of next-generation medication.

Formerly a University of Glasgow spinout, the firm looks “to revolutionise respiratory drug delivery”, with chronic respiratory diseases being amongst the top causes of death worldwide. 

Nebu-Flow’s nebuliser platform has been developed to provide some advantages over existing technologies. As of 2023, the global market for inhalable drugs had a value of around $33bn, with the nebuliser market valued at over $1bn.  

Elijah Nazarzadeh, chief executive and co-founder of Nebu-Flow said: “The investment accelerates our development activities to position the company for inhalation delivery of RNA-based formulations. We now look forward to the final product development and commercialisation stages, with the support of SCVC and our other investors.

“Essentially, our technology provides new opportunities for targeted drug delivery to the lungs as well as drug delivery to the cardiovascular and central nervous systems.”

The firm is currently trialling the product with partners across the UK and North America.   

The cash boost comes from a fund round led by SCV, a UK-based venture capital firm investing in early-stage deep tech spinouts. 

Other supporters included Scottish Enterprise, Foresight WAE Technology, SIS Ventures, Ascension, and Conduit EIS Impact Fund.

Kerry Sharp, director of entrepreneurship and investment at Scottish Enterprise, said: “Scottish Enterprise has supported Nebu-Flow’s ambition to revolutionise respiratory drug delivery over several years, from inclusion in our Unlocking Ambition entrepreneurship programme and feasibility grant support, all the way through to this investment, which has in turn helped unlock access to other large grant awards for the company.

“It has been fantastic to follow their journey from university spinout right through to securing the investment needed to commercialise their technology, hopefully bringing benefits to respiratory patients around the world.”

The announcement comes after the firm was awarded a £1m project from Innovate UK, the national innovation agency.