Pioneering healthcare start-up opening regional office after financial support deal

North West funding has supported the expansion of a pioneering healthcare start-up.

ScubaTx has developed new technology to support organ transplantation. It is a spinout of Newcastle University, but is opening a new Greater Manchester office.

The firm has raised £1.5m in funding, including investment led by the GMC Life Sciences Fund by Praetura and grant funding from Innovate UK.

ScubaTx will use the investment to enhance its designs and develop its device, as it looks to obtain the permissions to sell its products worldwide, with a specific focus on the UK, USA and mainland Europe and an initial eye on pancreatic procedures for patients with diabetes.

Founded in 2020, ScubaTx is a pre-clinical company that has developed a prototype organ transportation device that extends the time that human organs are viable for, with the goal of transforming organ transplant procedures worldwide.

The device utilises technology called ‘persufflation’ to deliver advanced organ preservation, by cooling donated organs and oxygenating tissues with humidified gas at tightly controlled pressures and flow rates. The company is now finalising mechanical tests and expects to begin pre-clinical trials in the next few weeks and pivotal clinical trials in the next year.

The funding round was led by GMC Life Sciences Fund by Praetura, a venture capital fund which invests in early-stage businesses and SMEs to boost life sciences innovation, which is managed by Manchester-based Praetura Ventures. The fund is also supported by the Greater Manchester Combined Authority, Cheshire & Warrington LEP and Bruntwood SciTech.

David Campbell, CEO of ScubaTx, said: “I’m incredibly excited about the future of ScubaTx. Securing funding from the GMC Life Sciences Fund by Praetura and Innovate UK will now allow us to finalise our first commercial product and continue with our mission to transform the lives of organ patients worldwide.

“The capability of ScubaTx’s technology, as well as the depth of experience within the team, is immense, and this is what is giving us our strongest platform for growth. We’re deeply committed to improving lives, and this shines through in the team’s effort – the investment will help transform that effort into life-saving actions.”

Sim Singh-Landa, head of the GMC Life Sciences Fund by Praetura, said: “The strength of a fund like the GMC Life Sciences Fund by Praetura is that it enables the region to attract really inspiring businesses like ScubaTx, adding to the socio-economic prosperity of the local area and enabling the North West to continue cementing itself as a leader in life sciences. We can’t wait to work with the team and play a key role in their growth journey.”

Dr Bill Scott

Dr William ‘Bill’ Scott, chief scientific officer of ScubaTx and senior lecturer at Newcastle University in Transplant and Regenerative Medicine, whose lifetime of academic research has led to this point, said: “I’m incredibly proud of the ScubaTx team and grateful to our investors for the opportunity to see this technology translate into clinical practice; positively impacting patient’s lives.”

Prof Derek Manas, an advisor to ScubaTx, who is the current medical director for NHS Blood and Transplant, professor of Transplant and Hepato-Biliary Surgery at Newcastle University, and a consultant hepatobiliary and transplant surgeon and director of Newcastle’s Institute of Transplantation, said: “I have been involved with ScubaTx for a number of years now and have witnessed the company’s journey to this groundbreaking development, which I believe has the potential to revolutionise how we maintain and transport organs for transplantation. There is a critical shortage of healthy organs available for treating critically ill patients and I have high hopes that ScubaTx could play a major role in improving working practices and improve supply.”

The investment by the GMC Life Sciences Fund by Praetura was managed and completed by Jess Jackson (investment manager) and Stefano Smith (graduate investment associate), with support from Sim Singh-Landa (head of the GMC Life Sciences Fund by Praetura). Jordan Dargue, a director of NorthInvest, was also closely involved with the deal, with legal firms Irwin Mitchell and Ward Hadaway acting on behalf of Praetura Ventures and ScubaTx respectively.