A University of Edinburgh spin-out has appointed a new chair to steer its global growth in the cancer liquid biopsy market.
BIOCAPTIVA, based in the capital, develops advanced polymer technologies to extract cell-free DNA from blood. The company has brought in Stephane Argivier, an executive with over 25 years of experience in the life sciences sector.
Argivier takes over the chairmanship from Frank Armstrong, who has served since the company’s inception and helped lay the foundations for its commercial growth.
The leadership change follows a series of milestones for the company, including securing £1.58m in funding led by existing investor Archangels, alongside Old College Capital, BBI, Scottish Enterprise, and EverQuest Partners.
BIOCAPTIVA also recently secured ISO 13485 certification, appointed Alan Schafer as Chief Technology Officer, and launched its msX research kits in Boston to target the United States market.
The company’s patented msX platform aims to improve the pace and scale of cancer research by addressing a long-standing bottleneck in how samples are prepared.
It uses a magnetic bead technology to capture DNA directly from whole blood without the need for centrifuges or additional reagents, delivering higher-quality samples with faster processing times.
Argivier brings significant experience in leading growth-stage businesses, having recently served as CEO of MIP Discovery, where he secured a £7m Series A funding round, and as CEO of Logical Biological.
Earlier in his career, he was Managing Director of SCIPAC, overseeing its sustained growth and eventual acquisition by BBI Group.
Jeremy Wheeler, CEO at BIOCAPTIVA, said: “Every stage of a company’s journey requires different strengths. Frank’s leadership helped transform BIOCAPTIVA from an innovative technology company into a commercially ready business, and we are extremely grateful for everything he has contributed.
“As we now focus on scaling internationally and delivering the commercial potential of our platform, Stephane’s experience and reputation across the global diagnostics industry will be invaluable. His appointment marks another important milestone in BIOCAPTIVA’s evolution.”
Sarah Hardy, Director and Head of New Investment at Archangels, said: “BIOCAPTIVA is going from strength to strength and is poised to accelerate towards its commercial potential under Stephane’s strategic leadership.
“The appointment of Stephane is the natural progression for the next phase of BIOCAPTIVA’s growth, as it aims to accelerate commercial adoption, deepen strategic partnerships, support OEM opportunities.”
Stephane Argivier, newly appointed Chair of the Board at BIOCAPTIVA, said: “BIOCAPTIVA has developed a highly differentiated and scalable technology to improve liquid biopsy workflows and sequencing data quality through enhanced pre-analytics.”
