A North West firm that hopes to transform the UK's self-care market has received a funding package worth over £3m.
Alderley Park-based Maxwellia converts prescription-only medicines into versions that can be bought in a pharmacy.
The firm, which aims to give people easier and faster access to treatments, secured a £3.2m investment in the funding round led by Praetura Ventures.
Founded in 2013 by chief executive Anna Maxwell – a pharmacist with over 20 years’ experience, Maxwellia specialises in ‘switching' - a process in which prescription only medication is reclassified and made available over the counter.
It already has three applications under assessment with the MHRA, and is currently awaiting approval of its first "game-changing" women’s health product following a public consultation.
Anna Maxwell, chief executive of Maxwellia, said: “The coronavirus pandemic has shown us clearly that we must take better care of our health. A huge part of that is helping people to better manage their own health more easily and conveniently.
"We have a fantastic, untapped network of pharmacists who are highly trained clinical experts and are at the heart of most communities across Britain on our high streets.
"As a pharmacist, I have seen first-hand how important they are for helping people self-care. It is vital more medicines are safely changed from being prescription-only so people can access them following a short consultation with a pharmacist."
Maxwellia said the Government is "supportive" of encouraging self-care and widening access to medicines, as well as promoting the role that pharmacists can play in communities to reduce pressure on the NHS.
Maxwellia secured investment of £3.2m, with £1.7m coming from Manchester-based Praetura Ventures, the venture capital fund that targets early-stage businesses in high-growth sectors. Other investors include the Future Fund, Catapult Ventures, Alderley Park Ventures and Biocity along with individual and angel investors.
The business has a "robust" pipeline, which includes numerous medicines across areas of public health with the greatest unmet need, and it will use the funding to scale up the manufacture and rollout of its drugs following MHRA approval, invest in marketing and expand its team.
Ms Maxwell said: “With the new funding round led by Praetura Ventures, we’ll be able to scale up our go-to-market operations for our first product launch and our other pipeline of over-the-counter medication, which will be game-changing for those who require more widened access to these drugs.
"The Praetura team’s understanding of our business and their hands-on approach were key factors in us choosing them to lead this investment round.”
