Klaus Pors
UNIK Biotherapeutics​
Klaus Pors graduated with a BEng in Chemical Engineering from the University of Southern Denmark (Odense, Denmark) in 1998 and completed his studies in Medicinal Chemistry at the UCL School of Pharmacy in 2002. The degrees gave him basic tools and insight in hypothesis and technology-driven research aimed at solving problems with opportunities for commercialisation. For >20 years he has gained expertise in cancer drug and fluorophore discovery. Notable achievements include securing licencing deals on innovative tumour-selective therapies to treat drug-resistant disease and fluorophore platform technology to enable an array of molecular fluorescent reagents to be matched with unmet needs in clinical or life science sectors, respectively. As an example of the latter, Klaus and his team recently invented and commercialised DRAQ9TM as a fluorophore to be utilised for imaging and high-throughput screening assays. Together with Prof Robert Falconer, Klaus has co-founded UNIK Biotherapeutics Ltd with the ambition to develop next generation of tumour-targeted drugs (termed antibody-drug conjugates) that are smarter and safer to use.
About the Enterprise
Cancer is a leading cause of death worldwide, accounting for nearly 10 million deaths in 2020, or nearly one in six deaths. Despite improvement in earlier diagnosis and better drugs, many cancer diseases are on the rise. Although antibody-drug conjugates (ADCs) are changing the landscape of oncology treatment, they are not perfect drugs and side effects remain.
UNIK’s research and development (R&D) is founded on technology that uses non-toxic payloads featuring prodrug payload design, which directly addresses off-target toxicity and side effects in patients associated with ADC treatment. Antibody-prodrug conjugates (AproDCs will lead to a significant improvement in overall survival rates and quality of life during and after treatment.
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UNIK's business vision is to evolve into a competitive oncology company over the next 5 years, advancing proprietary payloads and ADC therapeutics from concept to clinic evaluation. Target customers include academic institutions, life science, biotech and pharmaceutical sectors whilst ultimate end users of new therapeutics are patients suffering from cancer.
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Achievements
& Highlights
Research and Development
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Secured new intellectual property in payload technology, with patent filings GB2300668.7A (2023) and WO2024153716A1 (2024).
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Established in vivo proof-of-concept for proprietary prodrug technology.
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Prepared and validated key payload building blocks, enabling scalable payload supply.
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Demonstrated in vitro proof-of-concept of payload performance in both 2D and 3D cancer models.
Business highlights
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Used £10K BREE fellowship to support business plan development and establishment of University of Bradford spin-out company (registered 1st of August 2025).
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Secured the involvement of Prof David Thurston initially as a consultant but with a prominent non-exec Chair role in the pipeline from 2026. Prof Thurston is a world leader in payload and ADC technology who has successfully founded Spirogen (acquired by AstraZeneca for ~£200m) and Femtogenix (evolved into Pheon Therapeutics via $68m Series A financing).
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Secured the involvement of Academic Oncologist Srinivasan Madhusudan as Clinical Consultant. Prof Madhusudan has published over 150 research in translational research with particular focus on understanding mechanisms that be exploited to overcome drug resistance. Critically, he brings insight and know-how from leading clinical trials on the evaluation of new drugs including the use of ADCs at Nottingham University Hospitals NHS Trust.
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Over the past 6 months, UNIK has participated in Bionow, Climb25 and BioSeed North early-stage life sciences pitching events, which have provided multiple leads for securing investment and potential partnerships; > 30 meetings has taken place with venture capitalists, biotech and pharmaceutical companies about potential investment to progress UNIK’s R&D. The companies are awaiting the out outcome of pending in vivo PoC studies before investment discussions will continue to next phase.
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UNIK reached the top 5% (729 entries in the ‘University’ category) in the 2025 Santander X Award pitching competition.
Grant applications
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Application to Innovate UK Biomedical Catalyst Future Medicines Accelerator scheme (operated by LYVA Labs). Successful (start Nov 2025).
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Application “An innovative AproDC targeting Nectin-4 and CYP1A1 for cancer treatment” submitted to Johnson & Johnson’s 2025 call: Unlocking Urologic Oncology Innovation QuickFire Challenge. $100,000; outcome expected in Q1 2026.
Contact
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