Transforming the treatment of neurodegenerative conditions

Professor Adrian Liston (2023) is a co-founder and Chief Scientific Officer of Aila Biotech, a Cambridge-based spin-out company developing disease-modifying therapies for neurological conditions driven by chronic inflammation, including multiple sclerosis, Alzheimer’s disease, Parkinson’s disease and traumatic brain injury.

Alia Biotech has developed a new class of brain-targeted immunotherapies, using a patented platform that enables immune-modulating biologics to be produced locally at sites of inflammation within the brain. By targeting treatment directly to sites of disease, the platform is designed to deliver sustained therapeutic activity while reducing systemic exposure and toxicity.

Professor Liston commented, “Our mission is to change the way neuroinflammatory diseases are treated to transform the lives of patients, backed by the best Cambridge has to offer in terms of clinical, biotech and regulatory expertise.”

Aila Biotech is currently raising a Seed round to advance its lead programme to first-in-human clinical trials and advance additional high-value biologics within the platform. The team recently won the Technimede Open Prize and also joined the ‘Founders at the University of Cambridge’ START 3.0 cohort, an intense accelerator programme and founder community.

Professor Liston added, “This is a unique opportunity for us to translate more than a decade of pre-clinical development into a new medicine that has the potential to transform lives. This is the moment we have been working towards – using the latest advances in immunology, neuroscience and biotechnology to address diseases where patients urgently need better treatment options.”

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