Tissue Regenix Raises £685,000 to Fund Ongoing Development
Tissue Regenix Limited, the Leeds-based developer of revolutionary tissue products, is delighted to announce that it has completed a £685,000 equity financing from IP Group plc, the intellectual property commercialisation company, and the White Rose Technology Seedcorn Fund, which provides funding for spin-out companies from the universities of Leeds, York and Sheffield.
Tissue Regenix, which was spun out of the University of Leeds earlier this year with early stage funding from IP Group, plans to use the funds to develop its ongoing business as it prepares its products for regulatory approval.
Tissue Regenix is developing revolutionary acellular tissue scaffolds to meet the growing demand for donor tissue for many surgical procedures. The Tissue Regenix scaffolds possess the same biomechanical properties as native tissue, demonstrate excellent biocompatibility, resistance to calcification and successful regeneration in vivo. The company is based on research which has received over £2million of funding over five years, primarily from the UK research councils (Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council in conjunction with Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council and Children's Heart Surgery Fund).
The company already owns a substantial worldwide intellectual property portfolio and will initially concentrate its efforts on bringing important products to the clinic in 2-5 years to address key clinical needs in the cardiovascular and orthopaedic market segments. The potential global market for Tissue Regenix products is continuing to grow annually and is currently estimated to be $5-10bn.
Professor John Fisher, chairman of Tissue Regenix, said: “We are delighted to have secured this funding which is a major endorsement of our products as we prepare them for further testing and, ultimately, regulatory approval.”
Alan Aubrey, chief executive of IP Group, said: “Tissue Regenix is developing an exciting suite of products aimed at a large market and we are delighted to have completed this investment.”
Ed Coombs of Aberdeen Asset Managers, who manage the White Rose Technology Seedcorn Fund, “The fund supports companies like Tissue Regenix to help research turn into successful commercial ventures with an important role to play in technological advancement. In Tissue Regenix's case, we hope that the funding will enable them to fully explore the opportunities available to them.”
For further information, please contact:
Tissue Regenix Ltd 0870 803 2431
Simon Graindorge, Commercial Director 0113 384 5861
IP Group plc
020 7489 5200
Alan Aubrey, Chief Executive Officer
Liz Vaughan-Adams (communications) 020 7489 5206/07979853802
White Rose Technology Seedcorn Fund
Hannah Griffiths, PR Officer 01904 610077
Notes for Editors
About Tissue Regenix
Founded in May 2006, Tissue Regenix Ltd will produce acellular tissue matrices using novel technologies developed in the world-leading Institute for Medical and Biological Engineering. There is already a strong clinical need for donor tissue in many surgical procedures, not only to restore independence and mobility following injury, but also to save lives. The Tissue Regenix matrices have excellent biocompatibility, immunocompatibility, resistance to calcification, show rapid and successful regeneration in vivo and have the same biomechanical properties as the native tissue to be replaced. The company is initially concentrating on developing products to address important clinical needs in cardiovascular and orthopaedic surgery, for delivery to patients in the clinic in 2-5 years.
About IP Group
IP Group Plc is an intellectual property (IP) commercialisation company that specialises in commercialising university technology. Founded in 2001, IP Group listed on AiM in October 2003 and moved to the Official List in June 2006. It has made two acquisitions to date – Techtran, a company set up to commercialise university intellectual property under a long term contract with the University of Leeds, in 2005 and Top Technology Ventures, an investment adviser to early stage technology venture capital funds, in 2004.
The group has formed long-term partnerships with ten universities – the University of Oxford, King's College London, CNAP/University of York, the University of Leeds, the University of Bristol, the University of Surrey, the University of Southampton, Queen Mary (University of London), the University of Bath and the University of Glasgow.
As at 30 June 2006, 44 spin-out companies had been created among the group's university partners. Of those, eight have listed on the AiM market of the London Stock Exchange and there have been two trade sales.
For more information, please visit our website at www.ipgroupplc.com
About White Rose
The White Rose Technology Seedcorn Fund is an early stage seedcorn fund, which invests in exciting new technology emerging from the Universities of York, Leeds and Sheffield.
The £9 million Fund provides venture capital funding of up to £250,000 (and above for exceptional opportunities) to enable the transition from promising research work to commercial reality.
Its portfolio of investee companies represent the commercialisation of high quality science and technology combined with professional management teams to produce investor-ready and partner-ready opportunities.
The Fund is owned by the Universities of York, Leeds and Sheffield, and managed by Aberdeen Asset Managers.
Photo: Professors John Fisher and Eileen Ingham
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2 January 2007 |