About Gramics Bio
Gramics Bio is a high-growth early-stage life sciences business engineering a new class of gene therapy to unlock disease-modifying treatment for people with genetic diseases. Its flagship program is a gene therapy for people with cystic fibrosis.
Value delivered by ForrestBrown
ForrestBrown took on a key role supporting Gramics Bio with its first R&D tax relief claim. Using its multi-skilled team of industry-experienced sector specialists and tax experts, it was able to qualify its R&D, explain how contracted out and overseas rules operate and provide seamless, end-to-end claim preparation.
Client reflections
“The funding we have received with ForrestBrown’s support has been critical to the business. We run a lean operation and focus our resources on R&D to hit key development milestones.
To receive a cash credit on the money we’ve spent on R&D, is hugely significant. It creates additional runway and enables us to accelerate our R&D programme. As it is non-dilutive, we’re not diluting equity in the business.
I had considered preparing the R&D claim myself, but we are a small team and it would have taken us away from other value-generating activities; and I doubt we would have achieved the same result. The rules are complex and interpretation in practice is not always clear. To have a trusted partner who understands how to put together a robust claim, how the process works, and the level of detail required was invaluable.
The ForrestBrown team were excellent. Professional, responsive, enthusiastic, strong on communication and cohesive as a team. The depth and breadth of talent, both tax and scientific, that they bring together ensures a straightforward, stress-free process that provides real confidence in the claim.
The team kept us up to date throughout and were clear about what they needed from us. They were extremely knowledgeable about the R&D rules and helped us to understand what would qualify. For companies like ours, where outsourcing is important, it is crucial to have an adviser who knows how the overseas R&D rules work.
It’s a steep learning curve but we now understand the process and we hope to be able to benefit from R&D tax relief in the future. For early-stage life sciences companies like Gramics Bio, reliant on multiple rounds of equity funding as we progressively de-risk and validate through specific R&D milestones, this type of support provides critical leverage. Moving forwards, we expect that R&D tax credits will continue to play a significant part of our overall funding strategy.”
Oli Rayner, Co-Founder and CEO, Gramics Bio