Two innovative spin outs from the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine join forces to create Arctech Innovation, a world-leading company with game-changing public health technologies
The technology-driven spin-out from the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine (LSHTM), Vecotech, has acquired fellow LSHTM spin-out ARCTEC, to form an exciting new entity called Arctech Innovation.
Bringing together the Arthropod Control Product Test Centre (ARCTEC) and Vecotech, Arctech Innovation will be a world-leading innovation centre for breakthrough research, evaluation and commercialisation of new, game-changing products for the surveillance, diagnosis, and control of diseases.
ARCTEC is a world-renowned centre of excellence in entomology and vector control connecting the academic expertise at LSHTM with the needs of the industry, while Vecotech turns scientific discoveries into novel technologies to monitor and control insect pests and protect people living in disease-endemic countries.
The move will enable the growth of Vecotech’s existing innovation platform, which exploits the powerful odour detection capabilities of insects to develop disruptive public health products, including novel odour-based diagnostics for diseases such as malaria and COVID-19, as well as products aimed at controlling vector insects.
Building on ARCTEC and Vecotech’s outstanding reputations for their unrivalled vector control expertise, high-quality scientific rigour and clinical trial expertise amongst their portfolios of clients and partners, Arctech Innovation also intends to expand its unique product evaluation and clinical capabilities and services.
Arctech Innovation will be led by its CEO and co-founder, Professor James Logan, a Professor at LSHTM and a world-leading expert on disease control with more than 20 years of experience developing, implementing and commercialising novel technologies to detect and control diseases.
Professor Logan, said: “Arctech Innovation has big ambitions to change the way we detect and control some of the world’s deadliest diseases, and our unique set of in-house capabilities and expertise gives us the perfect platform to develop disruptive public health solutions.”
Arctech Innovation has a mission to transform lives by creating and delivering public health innovation and global social impact. It will comprise three core divisions:
- Innovation: translating academic scientific discoveries and novel IP into commercial products using its proprietary Semeion IQ™ chemical ecology platform.
- Contract research: offering clinical trial and product evaluation services to key strategic partners, from experimental testing to large-scale field and clinical trials, to enable product development and product registration.
- Social impact: delivering educational, training and behaviour change projects which have a positive impact on the health and wellbeing of individuals and communities around the world.
Earlier this year, Arctech Innovation, then trading as Vecotech, successfully launched its first commercial product, BugScentsTM, a novel bed bug pheromone-based lure which is selling well.
Through its close affiliation with LSHTM, as well as other academic and commercial partners, Arctech Innovation has a growing pipeline of innovative and life-changing odour-based disease surveillance and control technologies to bring to market.
Professor Mary Cameron, director and co-founder of Arctech Innovation, says: “I couldn’t be more excited about bringing together two world-leading organisations in disease and vector control research and public health innovation, and leveraging the unrivalled expertise of each company to bring greater value and drive forward the development of life-changing public health technologies.”
Professor James Logan added: “With this move we will accelerate the development of several life-saving technologies, and social impact projects, to improve health and wellbeing of people around the world, which is at the forefront of our mission at Arctech Innovation.”
