Environmental, Social and Corporate Governance (ESG)
The Group’s core mission is to research and develop gene therapies which address significant unmet medical needs by reducing and delaying the incidence of age-related diseases.
The Directors believe that a long-term sustainable business model is essential for discharging the Board’s responsibility to promote the success of the Group, its employees, shareholders and other stakeholders of the business.
The Board is committed to integrating responsible investment and operational decisions at all levels of the business having regard to the potential impact of its decisions in each of the ‘Environmental’, ‘Social’ and ‘Governance’ categories.
Environmental
As a development stage biopharmaceutical business, the Group’s operations are at a relatively small scale. As such, the Group’s environmental impact is relatively small when compared with larger businesses in the sector. Nevertheless, the Board recognises its responsibility to protect the environment (particularly as the business scales up) and is fully committed to conserving natural resources and striving for environmental sustainability, by ensuring that its facilities and the facilities of academic and contracted collaborators are operated to optimise energy usage; minimise waste production; and, protect nature and people.
The Group is committed to providing clear reporting on environmental sustainability to shareholders and all other interested stakeholders in future annual reports, starting with the report for the 2021 financial year. This will ensure that the Directors can provide stakeholders with an insight on the Group’s environmental impact as well as accepting full accountability for its actions.
Social
The Board is committed to creating a positive, inclusive and welcoming work environment for its employees, workers, job applicants and academic and business partners. The Group ensures that people receive equal treatment, regardless of gender, gender-identity, age, disability, religion, belief, political views, sexual orientation, marital status, nationality or race, physical or mental health.
The Directors believe that diversity is fundamental to the Group and to the success of developing innovative therapeutic treatments. The Board is committed to creating a diverse environment, where the rights and differences of everyone, directly or indirectly operating within the Group, are valued.
In health and safety matters, the Board will at all times work to ensure that the Group complies with the highest standards of ethical and safety standards (see the “Ethics & Safety” section in Part VII for a more detailed explanation). In addition, the Group uses hazardous, or potentially hazardous, chemical and biological materials during its research and development cycles. These materials are necessary for the core research activities undertaken by the Group. The Group is committed to ensuring that hazardous chemicals and biological materials are acquired, stored, transferred, modified, handled, and disposed of in a way that minimises any potential adverse effects to human health and to the environment. Their use is based on both an understanding of the hazards they present and on the corresponding controls aimed at managing the risk of exposure. The Group complies with the local and national guidelines in all matters of health and safety.
Our Research & Studies
Our Ethical Responsibility
For scientific and regulatory reasons, animal studies remain a crucial part of the Group’s work to deliver safe and effective therapies, which benefit animal and patients’ health and the wellbeing of our world. At present it is not possible, either due to lack of suitable alternatives, or because animal studies are required by regulatory authorities, for the Group to eliminate the need for animal studies in its work. The Group recognises the ethical responsibility to treat all animals respectfully, while striving to minimise their pain or distress, and to avoid it completely when possible. To this end, the Group strictly complies with all applicable international and local legislation and regulatory guidelines and, furthermore, is committed to following the high standards of internationally recognised practices on the humane treatment of animals. The Group upholds and embraces the “3Rs” of animal research, namely:
- The replacement of animals when possible and/or acceptable;
- The reduction of the numbers of experiments and of animals required by each experiment; and,
- The minimisation of pain and distress, by means of refinement of animal studies procedures.
Governance
The Board is firmly committed to high standards of corporate governance and, at Admission, the Company will comply with the provisions of the QCA Code. The Board is supported by a highly experienced executive management team which develops and drives the direction, strategy and decision-making of the Company, always with a long-term focus and the interests of the Company’s shareholders at the heart of its decision making. See the “Corporate Governance” section above for further information.
In addition, the Group operates an anti-bribery policy to ensure it operates in an ethical manner.