PlaqueTec

What PlaqueTec does

PlaqueTec Limited is a UK-based, privately-held clinical-stage medtech company founded in 2008 and headquartered at the Babraham Research Campus in Cambridge. The company develops the Liquid Biopsy System (LBS), a proprietary intracoronary catheter capable of simultaneous multi-port trans-plaque blood sampling via laminar flow mixing baffles, alongside the registered BIOCARTA® bioinformatics platform — a cardiovascular data lake that integrates proteomic (Olink 3000+), genomic (genome-wide SNP array), OCT imaging, biochemical, lipid, cellular and clinical/demographic data to endotype coronary artery disease (CAD). At the centre of operations is the BIOPATTERN trial, a UK multi-site clinical investigation enrolling up to 300 CAD patients across eight NHS specialist cardiac centres (lead site Royal Papworth Hospital), which feeds BioCarta and is the engine for novel target discovery.

The company's commercial intent is to position BioCarta as a partnership and licensing asset for pharmaceutical and biotech companies engaged in cardiovascular drug development — specifically for drug target selection, patient stratification and biomarker discovery — and to develop precision medicines against endotype-specific targets identified through the trial. Leadership comprises Executive Chairman Martin Stapleton (founding shareholder since 2018), General Manager Dr Simon Williams (joined 2019, ex-Amgen UK cardiovascular lead), Chief Scientific Officer Dr Diane Proudfoot (joined 2018, 25+ years cardiovascular research, Cambridge/Babraham) and Research Scientist Dr Stephen Chetwynd (joined 2023, ex-Babraham/AstraZeneca). Scientific oversight is provided by a Trial Steering Committee chaired by Prof Peter Libby (Harvard Medical School / Brigham and Women's Hospital).

PlaqueTec is currently pre-revenue, with operations funded through equity financing (an $8 million round in April 2024 led by Lord Moynihan of Chelsea alongside The Future Fund, followed by an oversubscribed $5 million / £3.7 million round in April–May 2026 from existing shareholders). MHRA approval to continue the BIOPATTERN trial was secured in November 2023, and a pre-specified interim analysis in May 2025 confirmed distinct protein gradients between diseased coronary and systemic blood and validated the safety of the updated LBS device. Distribution is entirely direct enterprise outreach to pharma/biotech for future data licensing, supported by NHS clinical research collaboration and content-led marketing through industry publications, scientific conferences and a BiotechTV interview.

Name

PlaqueTec

Legal name

PlaqueTec Limited

Website

https://plaquetec.com

Company type

Private

Founded year

2008

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

1–10 employees

Short description

PlaqueTec is a UK clinical-stage medtech company developing a proprietary intracoronary catheter (Liquid Biopsy System) and the BioCarta bioinformatics data lake to endotype coronary artery disease, serving pharmaceutical and biotech partners through planned data licensing and clinical research collaborations with UK NHS specialist cardiac centres.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Cardiovascular Diagnostics

NAICS

Research and Development in Biotechnology (except Nanobiotechnology) (541714), Electromedical and Electrotherapeutic Apparatus Manufacturing (334510)

SIC

Surgical & Medical Instruments & Apparatus (3841), In Vitro & In Vivo Diagnostic Substances (2835)

akta.pro industry

PRIMARYHLAAAMAH

Liquid Biopsy Biomarkers (ctDNA/ctRNA/CTCs/exosomes)

Healthcare & Life Sciences/Biotechnology & Biologics/Biomarkers and Companion Diagnostics

SECONDARYHLAAAMAF

Prognostic & Risk Stratification Biomarkers (disease progression, recurrence risk)

Healthcare & Life Sciences/Biotechnology & Biologics/Biomarkers and Companion Diagnostics

SECONDARYHLAHAFAI

Hemodynamic Monitoring & Cardiac Diagnostics (Cath Lab, FFR/IVUS/OCT)

Healthcare & Life Sciences/Medical Devices & Diagnostics/Cardiovascular Devices (Stents, Valves, Rhythm Management)

Keywords

• Intracoronary catheter device
• Cardiovascular biomarker discovery
• Coronary artery disease endotyping
• Multi-omic clinical data platform
• Precision cardiology research

Headquarters

HQ city

Cambridge

HQ country

United Kingdom

HQ region

Europe

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Hardware or Manufacturing

Cost components

Personnel, Technology or R&D, Operations, Marketing or Sales, Infrastructure

Revenue model

1. Pharmaceutical and biotech data licensing/partnerships (planned): PlaqueTec is positioning the BioCarta intracoronary proteomic and clinical data lake as a platform asset for partnership and licensing with pharmaceutical and biotech companies engaged in cardiovascular drug development, for target selection and patient stratification. No revenue is currently recognised — the company is actively pursuing these discussions.
2. Future therapeutic development (planned): PlaqueTec's longer-term revenue strategy involves development of precision medicines targeting novel endotype-specific drug targets identified via its BIOPATTERN trial and BioCarta platform. Currently pre-commercial with respect to therapeutics.
3. Equity financing (current funding source): Multiple equity financing rounds have been completed (£6.4M / $8M in April 2024, $5M in April 2026, £3.7M in May 2026), all from existing investors / Future Fund / Lord Moynihan of Chelsea, used to fund BIOPATTERN trial operations and BioCarta development. Not a product revenue stream — represents capital raised rather than commercial revenue.

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion3 records

Distribution channels3 records

Marketing channels7 records

Core offering

PlaqueTec develops the proprietary Liquid Biopsy System (LBS™), an intracoronary catheter device that performs simultaneous multi-port trans-plaque blood sampling at the site of coronary artery disease, paired with BIOCARTA®, a bioinformatics cardiovascular data lake that aggregates proteomic, genomic, OCT imaging, biochemical, and clinical data to endotype CAD. The BIOPATTERN clinical trial (up to 300 patients across eight UK NHS specialist cardiac centres) generates the intracoronary data that populates BIOCARTA and supports partnership/licensing with pharmaceutical and biotech companies for cardiovascular drug target selection and patient stratification.

Product overview

PlaqueTec operates a platform-plus-program architecture built around two integrated core products: the Liquid Biopsy System (LBS™), a proprietary catheter-based medical device for site-of-disease intracoronary blood sampling, and BIOCARTA®, a proprietary bioinformatics cardiovascular data lake that correlates multi-omic, imaging, genomic and clinical data to endotype coronary artery disease (CAD). At the centre of the platform is the BIOPATTERN clinical trial, which uses the LBS to generate the intracoronary proteomic and clinical data that populates and expands BIOCARTA, supporting biomarker discovery, patient stratification and partnership/licensing with pharmaceutical and biotech companies for cardiovascular drug development.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Brands

• BIOCARTA: Proprietary bioinformatics discovery platform and cardiovascular data lake used to interrogate intracoronary proteomic, genomic, imaging, and clinical data to identify disease endotypes and inform precision medicine approaches for coronary artery disease.
• Liquid Biopsy System (LBS)

Products and services

• Liquid Biopsy System (LBS™) Proprietary catheter-based medical device (Liquid Biopsy Catheter + Blood Collection Module) that performs simultaneous multi-port in-vivo trans-plaque blood sampling within the coronary artery. Mixing baffles disrupt the biomolecule-rich boundary layer to gently homogenise and collect site-of-disease biomarkers; vacuum pressure stores samples in removable tubes for downstream multi-omic analysis. Used in the BIOPATTERN clinical trial and being evaluated as a clinical investigation tool in CAD patients undergoing PCI.
• BIOCARTA® Proprietary bioinformatics cardiovascular data lake and endotyping platform that ingests, correlates and visualises intracoronary proteomic, genomic, biochemical, OCT imaging, cellular and clinical/demographic data from BIOPATTERN trial patients to group CAD into endotype-specific signatures and identify novel drug targets. Being positioned for partnership and licensing with pharmaceutical and biotech companies engaged in cardiovascular drug development.
• BIOPATTERN trial Ongoing UK multi-site clinical trial designed to recruit 300 patients with established coronary artery disease across eight UK NHS specialist cardiac centres (lead site Royal Papworth Hospital, Cambridge). Uses the Liquid Biopsy System to capture trans-plaque blood samples together with OCT imaging, Olink 3000+ proteomics, genome-wide SNP array, 30+ colour spectral flow cytometry immunophenotyping, and extensive clinical and demographic data capture. Data feeds BIOCARTA for CAD endotyping and biomarker discovery.

Quantifiable outcome

• Pre-specified interim analysis (May 2025) on samples from 33 of the first 34 patients revealed distinct protein gradients in diseased coronary artery blood vs systemic blood, plus safety/functionality confirmation of the Liquid Biopsy System
• +3 more outcomes

Named customers4 records

Segments4 records

Ideal customer profiles3 records

Technology focussed Yes

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

AI capability3 records

Feature5 records

Partnerships

Eleven partnerships are on record, tiered supporting and core.

• Burges SalmonsupportingImplementation/ SI/ Consulting Partner · 27 May 2026Law firm that advised PlaqueTec on its £3.7 million oversubscribed funding round (May 2026), backed entirely by existing shareholders. Funds to support development of the BioCarta platform.
• RxCeleratecoreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 18 September 2024Collaboration to assess small molecules (identified from an initial virtual/cheminformatics drug screen) against a novel candidate target in CAD discovered by PlaqueTec in pilot studies. RxCelerate developed a bespoke cell-based assay to test the small molecules. Builds on a prior pilot project with Medicines Discovery Catapult. Plans for further collaboration on additional targets validated in BIOPATTERN.
• Babraham Institute (Welch research group, Dr Heidi Welch)coreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 14 May 2024Campus Innovation Award (CIA)-funded collaboration via the Babraham Research Campus Collaboration Fund (UKRI-BBSRC, awarded October 2023) to evaluate lead compounds predicted to bind a pro-inflammatory protein target discovered by PlaqueTec in pilot studies. The Welch lab tested the target in a human cell culture model, demonstrating its potential to be modulated by small molecule drugs. The target is now being evaluated as part of PlaqueTec's ongoing BIOPATTERN trial. Co-located on Babraham Research Campus.
• Babraham Institute (Flow Cytometry Facility, Dr Rachael Walker)coreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 23 January 2024UKRI-BBSRC Campus Collaboration Funding (2022/2023) via Babraham Research Campus to design and develop a bespoke cell phenotyping assay for human blood, to be made available as a service in the Babraham Institute's Flow Cytometry Facility. The assay is then used to investigate cell types present in coronary artery samples from BIOPATTERN trial patients. Co-located on Babraham Research Campus.
• Royal Papworth Hospital (lead BIOPATTERN trial site, Dr Stephen Hoole)coreImplementation/ SI/ Consulting Partner · 29 November 2023Lead clinical trial site for the BIOPATTERN trial under Chief Investigator Dr Stephen Hoole (Consultant Interventional Cardiologist). Provides patient recruitment, intracoronary blood sampling with the Liquid Biopsy System, and contributes to the Trial Steering Committee.
• Papworth Trials Unit CollaborationcoreImplementation/ SI/ Consulting Partner · 29 November 2023Manages the BIOPATTERN trial in collaboration with PlaqueTec, including trial governance and oversight.
• Bristol Heart Institute (Dr Tom Johnson, Consultant Interventional Cardiologist)coreImplementation/ SI/ Consulting Partner · 29 November 2023BIOPATTERN trial recruitment site and Trial Steering Committee member.
• University of Cambridge (Prof Adam Butterworth, Molecular Epidemiology; affiliated via Royal Papworth)supportingImplementation/ SI/ Consulting Partner · 29 November 2023Trial Steering Committee member contributing molecular epidemiology expertise to BIOPATTERN.
• University of Sheffield (Prof Sheila Francis, Cardiovascular Biology)supportingImplementation/ SI/ Consulting Partner · 29 November 2023Trial Steering Committee member contributing cardiovascular biology expertise to BIOPATTERN.
• Harvard Medical School / Brigham and Women's Hospital, Boston (Prof Peter Libby, Chair of Trial Steering Committee)coreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 29 November 2023Chairs the BIOPATTERN Trial Steering Committee. Prof Peter Libby is Mallinckrodt Professor of Medicine at Harvard Medical School, Cardiologist at Brigham and Women's Hospital, President of the International Atherosclerosis Society and Executive Editor of European Heart Journal. His research underpins the inflammation-driven atherosclerosis framework PlaqueTec's approach builds on.
• Medicines Discovery Catapult (MDC)supportingStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 February 2022Earlier pilot project (February 2022) funded by Innovate UK Business Growth, aimed at identifying novel drug targets in CAD using computational approaches to determine candidate small molecules. Data from this project formed the basis for the subsequent Babraham CIA-funded project and the RxCelerate collaboration.

Scale indicators8 records

Recent moves6 records

Expansion highlights6 records

Emerging players

• Cardiol Therapeutics: Cardiol Therapeutics is developing anti-inflammatory therapies for cardiovascular disease. It is comparable as an emerging precision-medicine player in the inflammation-driven atherosclerosis space that PlaqueTec's platform is designed to enable, providing a downstream user perspective on PlaqueTec's biomarker/target output.
• SomaLogic: SomaLogic operates the SomaScan proteomics platform, used in cardiovascular biomarker discovery and large-scale biobanks. It is comparable as a specialist biomarker-discovery platform with partial overlap to PlaqueTec's BioCarta ambitions, though SomaLogic focuses on systemic plasma biomarkers rather than site-of-disease sampling.

Direct peers

• HeartFlow: HeartFlow provides non-invasive coronary diagnostics (FFR-CT) for assessment of coronary artery disease. It is directly comparable to PlaqueTec as both companies commercialise CAD assessment technologies aimed at improving patient stratification and clinical decision-making, although HeartFlow uses CT imaging while PlaqueTec uses intracoronary sampling.
• Elucid Bioimaging: Elucid Bioimaging develops vascular imaging AI (vascuCAP) for quantifying plaque composition and cardiovascular risk from CT. It is comparable to PlaqueTec in focusing on plaque biology and CAD phenotyping to support improved diagnosis and treatment selection.
• Cleerly Health: Cleerly applies AI to coronary CT angiography for plaque quantification and cardiovascular risk assessment. It is comparable to PlaqueTec as both target CAD precision phenotyping to inform treatment decisions, though Cleerly's modality is non-invasive imaging versus PlaqueTec's invasive intracoronary sampling.
• SpectraWAVE: SpectraWAVE develops intracoronary imaging systems combining OCT and NIRS for plaque characterisation in the cath lab. It is comparable to PlaqueTec as both deploy proprietary catheter-based intracoronary diagnostic technology to characterise coronary plaque and inform interventional decision-making.
• Caristo Diagnostics: Caristo Diagnostics (CaRi-Heart) uses CT-based perivascular fat analysis to detect coronary inflammation and predict cardiac risk. It is directly comparable to PlaqueTec as both pursue inflammation-driven, non-systemic biomarker strategies for CAD endotyping and risk stratification.

Broad incumbents

• Abbott Vascular: Abbott is a global incumbent in cardiovascular devices and diagnostics, including intracoronary imaging (OCT) and biomarker assays. It is comparable as a broad incumbent operating in PlaqueTec's target space (CAD diagnostics and intervention), although Abbott's portfolio spans many cardiovascular indications rather than a CAD-endotyping niche.
• Olink Holding: Olink is a leading proteomics platform (PEA technology) whose Olink 3000+ panels are used by PlaqueTec in the BIOPATTERN trial. It is comparable as an enabling technology provider in the protein-biomarker discovery space, though Olink serves many disease areas broadly while PlaqueTec focuses on intracoronary CAD application.
• GE HealthCare: GE HealthCare provides a broad portfolio of cardiovascular imaging, diagnostic and monitoring solutions used in cath labs and hospitals worldwide. It is comparable as a broad incumbent whose diagnostic-imaging and analytics footprint overlaps with the clinical workflow PlaqueTec's intracoronary platform is designed to feed.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat5 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights7 records

Customer concentration

• Xx.com/PlaqueTec_UK
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/plaquetec-ltd

Compliance1 record

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles4 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds3 records

Investors1 record

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about PlaqueTec