Pioneering medical firm lured to NW by Fund cash

A BIO-MEDICAL company which has pioneered a technology to speed up the diagnosis of cervical cancer will be moving to the North West after raising nearly £1m to fund investment.

Zilico, which was originally spun out from the University of Sheffield and Sheffield Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, will be headquartered in Manchester after securing £750,000 from the The North West Fund for Biomedical and raising a further £235,000 from new and existing investors, including Fusion IP.

Zilico is developing a system to provide ‘real time’ test results after women have had a first smear test and then a follow-up scan if the smear test results are irregular.

Cervical cancer affects around 500,000 women worldwide each year and is responsible for 300,000 deaths.

Under current screening practices in the UK, a woman will have a Pap smear or LBC test every three or five years. If the test is positive, she will be referred to a colposcopy clinic for a detailed cervical examination.
 
There is often several weeks of anxious waiting for the patients – which will be removed if Zilico’s application fulfil their  potential.

Its system comprises of a portable hand-held device, a single use disposable sleeve and docking station. This system is safe, painless, and accurate.

The technology used, called electrical impedance spectroscopy, can measure the resistivity of cells and so detects changes as cells progress from normal to precancerous and then to cancerous.

The first application of the device is positioned within the referral population, and could help in reducing the number of biopsies taken.

The second application, which is under development, will be positioned as a screening device and will help to reduce the subjectivity and time-taken with current tests.

Application one has completed a key trial of 400 women in 2011 across three hospitals in the UK and Ireland.

Sameer Kothari, chief executive said: “It is the strength of the Zilico proposition including the recent pivotal trial data that has enabled us to secure this significant investment.”

“I am particularly pleased to bring on board SPARK Impact as an experienced healthcare investor.”

Zilico will use the investment to complete the manufacture of commercial devices and to establish its route to market for EU and other territories.

Dr Penny Attridge, senior investment director at SPARK Impact and manager of The North West Fund for Biomedical, said: “Cervical cancer is the second most common cancer in women under 35 and we feel this technology really has the potential to become a successful diagnostic tool for this cruel disease.”

Zilico is the 18th investment for The North West Fund for Biomedical to date.