When the New York Medical College was searching for a drug treatment for lung damage resulting from Covid-19 last year, it turned to this company. Sygnature works with pharmaceutical and biotech firms to develop drugs for illnesses such as cancer and respiratory disease. Simon Hirst, 56, started the firm in 2004, and sold a minority stake to Phoenix Equity Partners in 2017. Customers in America, Europe and Australia lifted overseas sales to £21.7m in the year to March 2020. Later that year, the company acquired drug discovery firms XenoGesis and Alderley Oncology. The group employs more than 375 research scientists across sites in Nottingham and Alderley Park, Cheshire.