AtoCap

Around 90% of drug treatments fail to achieve adequate penetration into tissue and cells, an increasingly recognised cause of treatment failure, antimicrobial resistance and disease relapse. 

AtoCap is tackling this challenge with a patented drug delivery platform designed to get more medicine to the place it is needed most.

Using electrohydrodynamic (EHD) encapsulation, AtoCap creates biodegradable, microporous capsules that protect drugs in transit and release them at high concentrations directly at the site of disease. The technology is engineered to penetrate biological barriers, including biofilms and intracellular reservoirs, helping therapies reach areas that conventional antibiotics often cannot.

The company's lead programme is focused on recurrent urinary tract infections (UTIs), CapFuran, where persistent intracellular infection remains a major unmet clinical need: 1 in 3 women experience a recurrence of a UTI within six months, and more than 50% of pathogens are resistant to first-line antibiotics. Chronic UTI sufferes have more than sic infections per year. 

Alongside this, AtoCap is advancing preclinical work in bladder cancer and developing programmes targeting genitourinary infections, skin infections and infected joints. 

By enabling localised, high-concentration drug delivery while reducing systemic exposure, the platform has the potential to improve treatment outcomes, minimise side effects and help address the growing threat of antimicrobial resistance.

Grounded in UCL innovation, AtoCap is an example of the kind of venture that translates breakthrough research into solutions for significant healthcare challenges.

The AtoCap journey so far:

• 2011: the spinout was founded at UCL