About us - CRISM

Founded in March 2016,
CRISM Therapeutics employs an interdisciplinary team of pharmaceutical specialists based in Birmingham.

Who we are

CRISM Therapeutics is a clinical stage company, creating kinder, better treatments to improve the performance of chemotherapy

Good cancer drugs are already available but their delivery needs to be more effective for greater impact on solid tumours. By administering our innovative ChemoSeed® technology directly into a tumour, or into the margin of apparently normal tissue that surrounds it (left after surgical removal), chemotherapy drugs can achieve their full potential and the risk of patients experiencing side effects that can occur when chemotherapy drugs circulate systemically around the whole body is reduced.

Driven by our mission to improve patients’ lives, we believe that research must have an impact, particularly where there is unmet need for new effective treatments, such as for brain tumours and pancreatic cancer. Current treatments for high-grade glioma, the leading cause of cancer-related death among children and young adults (aged under 40 years), have remained unchanged for years and focus on extending life, often by only a few months.

Curative treatments are needed urgently to give hope to patients receiving devastating diagnoses. By speeding up the development and enabling the sustained delivery of chemotherapy drugs exactly where they are needed we can make treatments less toxic, while improving their performance and cost-effectiveness. Making the drug development pipeline more efficient can ensure that the best treatments are available to all, reducing health inequalities.

Our leadership

Our interdisciplinary team’s expertise in all aspects of drug formulation and registration facilitates personalised treatment and speeds up the drug development process, making it more efficient and cost-effective, reducing health inequalities.

Andrew Webb

Executive Chairman

Andrew Webb

Executive Chairman

Andrew is Executive Chairman at CRISM Therapeutics, a platform drug delivery technology company. The Company’s lead product, ChemoSeed is for the treatment of brain tumour. Future indications may include pancreatic, prostate, bladder and breast cancers.

Experience & History

Andrew has over 30 years of commercial experience in the Diagnostics and Life Sciences industry. His previous roles include Chief Commercial Officer at Novel Technologies Holdings Ltd (NTH), Chief Executive Officer and founder of EKF Molecular Diagnostics and a nonexecutive director for Arcis Biotechnology.

Prior to EKF, Andrew joined QIAGEN as Senior Director, Personalised Healthcare following the acquisition of the pioneering personalised healthcare company, DxS Ltd in 2009 where he was Commercial Director. His early career included roles at Amersham Biosciences (now GE Healthcare) and in preclinical research at SmithKlineBeecham (now GlaxoSmithKline).

CRISM Therapeutics

CRISM Therapeutics uses hot melt extrusion, injection moulding and 3D printing to improve the clinical performance of active pharmaceutical ingredients (APIs), through solubility enhancement, local drug delivery and personalised medicines. In collaboration with the University of Birmingham CRISM has developed ChemoSeed® a platform implantable drug delivery technology that improves the clinical performance of APIs used in cancer treatment by delivering them directly to their required site of action. The Company’s first product is for the treatment of high grade glioma (brain tumour). CRISM Therapeutics is also responsible for the commercialisation of ChemoSeed, an implantable device designed to be implanted at the surgical margin of a brain tumour, improving the delivery of chemotherapy to the tumour margin while reducing systemic toxicities. This approach will improve the efficacy of brain tumour treatment, while reducing the onerous side effects on patients.

Professor Christopher McConville

Chief Scientific Officer

Professor Christopher McConville

Chief Scientific Officer

Chris McConville (Professor of Biomedical Innovation at Ulster University) leads a research group with an internationally recognised portfolio in the fields of drug formulation, delivery and pharmaceutical engineering, and has impactful collaborative links with academic, clinical and industrial partners. With a focus on implantable devices and nanotechnology for the improvement of cancer treatment, recent work has focused on the development of ChemoSeed, as well as a device for the delayed and localised delivery of chemotherapy to the margin of apparently normal tissue that surrounds a pancreatic cancer (that is left after its surgical removal).

Experience & History

Chris, in his role as Professor of Biomedical Innovation at Ulster University, also provides consultancy to the pharmaceutical industry on drug formulation and delivery, particularly in the areas of Chemistry Manufacturing and Control (CMC), sustained drug delivery, implantable devices, nanotechnology, hot melt extrusion, injection moulding and 3D printing.

CRISM Therapeutics

Dr Nermeen Varawalla

Rejoins as chair in early 2026

Dr Nermeen Varawalla

Rejoins as chair in early 2026

Experience & History

Nermeen is a healthcare and life sciences business leader, who founded, built and exited a number of multinational start up and corporate businesses. She has deep expertise in clinical development, translational medicine and medical affairs having held executive positions in contract research organisations and biopharmaceutical companies. Nermeen has deep expertise in clinical development, translational medicine and medical affairs having held executive positions in contract research organisations and biopharmaceutical companies including PRA Health (now ICON plc) and BTG International plc, until its acquisition by Boston Scientific Corporation. Most recently she was Chief Medical Officer at Relief Therapeutics, a listed biopharmaceutical company focused on COVID 19 and rare genetic diseases. In addition, Dr Varawalla has served two terms as a Trustee Board Member for the Malaria Consortium where she was also a member of its Finance, Audit and Risk Committee. Dr Varawalla has trained in clinical medicine at the Universities of Oxford and Mumbai, holds a DPhil (PhD) in Molecular Medicine from Oxford’s Institute of Molecular Medicine and an MBA from INSEAD.

CRISM Therapeutics

Gerry Beaney

Non-executive Director

Gerry Beaney

Non-executive Director

Experience & History

Gerry is a consultant to growth companies seeking strategic advice or funding for expansion. He was a non-executive director of Spectral MD Holdings Ltd (subsequently renamed Spectral AI, Inc.) a medical technology company quoted on AIM between June 2021 and September 2023. He acted as chairman of the Nomination Committee and was a member of the audit committee. He was formerly chairman of the remuneration committee. Gerry stepped down from the board on the company’s admission to NASDAQ in September 2023. Prior to Spectral MD Holdings Ltd, he carried out senior executive roles in the corporate finance sector for over 25 years.

During 2018 he was the Chief Executive Officer of Northland Capital Partners Limited, an institutional stockbroker based in London. He acted as Northland’s Head of Corporate Finance between 2014 and 2018. From 1997 to 2013 he was a Partner and Head of Capital Markets at Grant Thornton UK LLP which grew to become the largest independent nominated adviser to AIM companies under his leadership.

Prior to 1997 Gerry held various roles with Grant Thornton in the UK and New York City. He is a member of the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Scotland and was a member of the American Institute of Certified
Public Accountants between 1991 and 2016. He holds a Bachelor of Accountancy Degree from the University of Glasgow.

CRISM Therapeutics

Our strategy

We aim to lead implantable drug delivery in oncology

Our plan is to validate ChemoSeed as a glioblastoma treatment before using the technology to develop treatments for other tumour types, such as prostate, pancreatic, bladder and breast cancer.

Based on scientific advice from the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA), CRISM submitted a Clinical Trial Authorisation (CTA) application in June 2025 for a clinical study protocol, to get a definitive answer regarding whether the preclinical safety and efficacy data for ChemoSeed support evaluation in a Phase II clinical trial. CRISM engaged the services of Aixial Group, which has expertise in brain tumour studies, to support the preparation and submission of the CTA.
CRISM has received both regulatory approval from the UK Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) and favourable ethical opinion from a UK Research Ethics Committee (REC) to initiate its registration-grade Phase 2 clinical trial of Irinotecan ChemoSeed™ in patients with surgically resectable glioblastoma.

CRISM aims to complete the following key milestones within the short to medium term.
Commence clinical trials. Part I of CRISM’s first clinical trial, targeting glioblastoma using ChemoSeed and irinotecan, is expected to begin in the first quarter of 2026. CRISM will work with its partners to manufacture ChemoSeed beads for the trials, and will conduct Good Manufacturing Practice and regulatory studies as required.
Demonstrate improved clinical outcomes for patients treated with ChemoSeed. Given the virulent nature of glioblastoma, any benefits of ChemoSeed treatment on patient outcomes should be evident within 2 years of the start of the clinical trial.
Obtain marketing authorisation in the UK. As the target markets for ChemoSeed have orphan drug designation in the UK, positive Phase II clinical trial data would mean that CRISM could receive conditional marketing authorisation in the UK as early as 2028. This would reduce the time and cost to commercialisation of irinotecan-loaded ChemoSeed against glioblastoma.
Obtain marketing authorisation in other jurisdictions. Glioblastoma also has orphan drug designation in Europe and the USA. Because licensing regimes are closely aligned between countries, and assuming that the Phase II trial is suitably powered, conditional market authorisation will be sought in the European Union and (initially) experimental use authorisation in the USA to expand sales overseas.
Demonstrate that ChemoSeed can be used to treat other cancers. Because ChemoSeed can deliver combinations of different drugs, enabling personalised combinations and dosing depending on individual patients’ needs, ChemoSeed can be used to develop novel therapies and repurpose and reformulate already-approved drugs. ChemoSeed could be used to treat tumours such as prostate, pancreatic, bladder and breast cancer, and development of CRISM’s second ChemoSeed product (targeting prostate cancer) began in May 2025.

Application of the QCA Code

The QCA Code sets out 10 principles that focus on the pursuit of medium to long-term value for shareholders.

These are listed here together with a short explanation of how the Company applies each of the principles. Where the Company does not fully apply each principle an explanation as to why has also been provided.