A leading Spanish-owned life sciences company has chosen Cambridge for its first expansion to the UK following support from the Combined Authority & Business Board’s dedicated business growth service Growth Works & other partners
Quibim, a global leader in whole-body medical imaging, has located to the Bradfield Centre at Cambridge Science Park, with a commitment to create more than 10 jobs over the next few years.
Last summer, the Growth Works Business Growth Service launched an international market access programme for life sciences companies around the world that were looking to scale and grow into new markets. This was run through its international inward investment brand, Locate Cambridge. This programme was oversubscribed, and 10 companies out of more than 30 applicants were shortlisted to pitch to a panel of experts to facilitate and accelerate the companies’ journey into the region.
Quibim was one of the successful participants in the programme and pitched to a panel consisting of Start Codon, Illumina, Eastern Academic Health Science Network (AHSN) and a dealmaker and mentor from the Department of International Trade’s Global Entrepreneurship Programme.
Quibim’s advanced whole-body medical imaging is done through the use of AI-guided image analysis to discover critical and evasive health indicators. The company works with top biopharma players to develop new imaging based diagnostic algorithms in a value-based, long-term model of partnership. Once the new AI models are validated, they are regulatory cleared as a medical device and marketed to providers.
Collectively, the Growth Works programme through its Locate Cambridge Brand and its strategic partner, Eastern AHSN, which is funded by the NHS and the Government’s Office for Life Sciences, supported Quibim in its decision to locate in Cambridge rather than other parts of the UK. The access to skills, innovation partners and access to capital also contributed to their decision to invest.
Quibim began their supportive partnership with Eastern AHSN after being selected to present their innovation at their Innovation Review Panel. Quibim’s flagship product, QP-Prostate was identified as having a strategic fit to the region’s health and care priorities with prostate cancer being part of the NHS operational and delivery plan priorities for the current year.
