A COMPANY developing hormone replacement therapy for men has been backed with a £900,000 investment.

Endocrine Pharmaceuticals, based at Harwell, was founded by its chief executive Dr John Hart, who discovered a new hormone while researching for his doctorate.

He believes the hormone, micrin, has the potential to treat diseases caused by overgrowth of internal organs, including enlarged prostate as well as osteoporosis.

Endocrine is already 29 per cent owned by venture capital company 3i. Now 3i has upped its investment and is being joined by Cambridge venture capital fund Avlar Bioventures, managed by Alan Goodman.

Other investors are Helms Brown and Co of Oxford, and Cambridge Research and Innovation.

He left his job at Amersham International to become a business consultant, specialising in offering start-up advice to new businesses. In the meantime, he was funding more research at the Babraham Institute in Cambridge, putting in £30,000 of his own money to purify micrin.

His first breakthrough came when he joined AEA Technology's Innovation Plus scheme, which aims to help people from outside the company to turn good ideas into products and profits. AEA took a 17 per cent share in the company.

Story date: Monday 29 November

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