The Origins of Venomtech Limited
Venomtech's products are designed to help solve a significant and very common challenge in today's drug discovery: the failure to find good new drug candidates using conventional chemical libraries.
The company's Targeted Venom Discovery Arrays™ (TVDAs™) are the most comprehensive and flexible offers in the industry, coupled to an exclusive ready-to-use acoustic liquid delivery format that is rapidly becoming the standard worldwide. Venomtech is proud to help overcome significant barriers to the development of new, high value medicines.
Venomtech was founded in March 2010 by Steven Trim to help solve one of the problems he had often encountered as a pharmaceutical scientist - finding adequate new drug leads. Steve's passion and drive for drug discovery is intimately linked to his desire to advance human healthcare and to his personal experience of the challenges in drug discovery. During his tenure at Pfizer, he worked on several drug discovery programmes where the team struggled considerably to obtain good candidate molecules or adequate tools to rapidly advance its projects.
Venomtech Management Team
The management team comprises founder and full-time Managing Director Steven Trim, alongside Prof. Karol Sikora (Chairman), with Commercialisation Directorm, Paul Williamson and Ibrahim Sheikh Director of Finance.
Managing Director - Steven Trim
Steven Trim, Managing Director spent a decade working as a molecular biologist in drug discovery at Pfizer (Sandwich, Kent). He has worked extensively on pain therapeutics and developed expertise in tissue repair, gastrointestinal and respiratory fields. Having worked across molecular biology, pharmacology, biochemistry and anatomy, Steve has a deep understanding of drug discovery and the use of venoms and toxins in this area. Drawing on his experience at Pfizer, he founded Venomtech Ltd in 2010 with the goal of solving the problems the industry faces in finding new medicines.
Steve Trim - LinkedIn
Interim Chairman - Professor Karol Sikora
Professor Karol Sikora MA, MBBChir, PhD, MD, FRCR, FRCP, FRCPE, FFPM (Scientific Advisor) is a Consultant Oncologist at Hammersmith Hospital, London. He launched CancerPartnersUK, Britain's largest independent network of innovative cancer treatment centres. He was Chief of the World Health Organisation's Cancer Programme between 1997 and 1999 and has been an adviser to the UN's International Atomic Energy Agency. Karol provides invaluable expertise in oncology and therapeutics.
Commercialisation Director – Paul Williamson
Paul Williamson (Commercialisation director) has 20 years experience in high-tech business development. He has been working in entrepreneurial business development since 2001 leaving a senior sales position with GM and EDS to found start-up incubator Twoeyes Ventures in Australia and preparing over 70 companies for public and private investment. Taking a founding stake in a high-potential machinery client he grew and exited that business to found a medical simulation start-up with VC backing. He then took transport simulation technology to the UK Rail industry, taking market share across Europe before it was bought-out by a Tier-1 Transport Engineering company in Germany. He was most recently Director of Funding Acquisition with industry leader – Pera Technology – developing their capability to write investment-ready grants for H2020 and engage with the VC community. He now works with NCL and Market Reach Consulting to develop high-growth businesses.Degree-qualified in Mechanical and Manufacturing Engineering and with further qualifications in Systems Engineering and an MBA, Paul bridges technology and commercials with a hands-on approach.
Finance Director - Ibrahim Sheikh
Ibrahim Sheikh (Finance Director) has 29 years of experience in commercial finance having started his ACCA management accountancy career with Grindlays Bank and then successfully moving onto JP Morgan Chase, where he was responsible for performance and budgetary reporting across EMEA operations. Ibrahim was also responsible for the introduction of new disruptive ICT technologies for JP Morgan Chase delivering improvements in MIS reporting and significant cost savings. Building on success in the City, Ibrahim set up his own management consultancy specialising in the rollout of disruptive technologies across the financial management sector. Ibrahim is a BAB and UKTI Accredited Management Consultant working closely with both SMEs and Enterprise organisations delivering business development to senior management at a national and international level. Since 1999, Ibrahim has been a Business Mentor for a number of Universities focusing on high quality professional business incubation, with nurtured and supported growth across science parks, research and development laboratories and commercial clusters. Ibrahim brings great depth of experience in business incubation, commercial development of new technologies and commercialisation of IP.
