PhaSER wins $2.7 million Gates Foundation grant for drug research
The two-year award extends access to the Scottish biotech’s mouse models for researchers working on tuberculosis, malaria and other infectious diseases.
PhaSER Biomedical said it has received a $2.7 million (£2 million) Gates Foundation grant to support the search for infectious disease treatments. The funding covers two years and renews the Scottish company’s participation in the foundation’s Global Health Discovery Collaboratory.
The program enables Gates-funded researchers worldwide to share laboratory resources, including PhaSER’s mice and expertise in how drugs are processed by the body. The company said researchers used its 8HUM model to investigate tuberculosis, malaria, schistosomiasis and Chagas disease under an earlier $2.3 million grant announced in 2024.
The 8HUM model gives mice human versions of key genes involved in breaking down medicines. Ordinary mice process drugs much faster than humans, which can distort test results. University of Dundee researchers reported in a PNAS study that drug behavior in 8HUM mice more closely resembled that seen in patients.
PhaSER is separately developing HERALD, an artificial intelligence tool intended to predict harmful effects when people take multiple medicines. Its partners are the University of Dundee and the UK medicines regulator, the MHRA, which announced £859,650 in government funding for the project in October 2025.
The company is recruiting AI and computer-modeling specialists and has added Exscientia co-founder Richard Bickerton to its board. PhaSER also said it is discussing growth funding with investors.
