£3.1m for pioneering stem cell firm
A LIVERPOOL bioscience firm has secured a £3.1m investment to help it progress with its pioneering stem cell work.
Videregen, based at Liverpool Science Park, has been backed by business angels, the North West Fund and Innovate UK, the new name for the Technology Strategy Board.
It will use the money for further clinical research into its stem cell-based regenerative treatment which could be the world’s first commercially available tissue engineered stem cell organ replacement product.
The business’s origins were in a ground breaking operation which saved 10-year-old Ciaran Finn-Lynch’s life. He was critically ill with a rare condition that meant he had a narrow windpipe. He was saved by transplant surgery in 2010 which combined a donor windpipe with his own stem cells to give him a new trachea.
Videregen has further developed the technology which reduces the chances of the organ being rejected because of the presence of the patient’s own cells.
It has received £900,000 in equity funding from The North West Fund for Biomedical managed by SPARK Impact, grant funding of £1.9m from Innovate UK and £300,000 from London Business Angels and other private investors.
Chief executive Dr Steve Bloor said: “We developed our world-leading technology platform to help address the chronic shortage of organs for transplantation. Our regenerative medicine allows organs to be restored to function and is expected to increase the quality and length of life, and reduce healthcare costs.
“This investment is critical because it will allow us to further develop our product and to carry out formal clinical trials with the ultimate aim of commercialising it. Trachea replacement is the first product from our platform technology, from which our research partner Northwick Park Institute for Medical Research is also developing bowel and liver replacement organs.
“The funding from The North West Fund for Biomedical, managed by SPARK Impact, Innovate UK and other investors will allow us to demonstrate the potential of the technology with our trachea replacement product. Hopefully this will pave the way for other organ replacements that could make a real difference to thousands of people’s lives.”
Dr Marc d’Abbadie, investment director at SPARK Impact, said: “The technology developed by Videregen is expected to show clear benefits as an innovative and potentially globally disruptive form of regenerative medicine, and we’re proud to be helping them to achieve their ambitions.
“SPARK Impact has now invested over £20m into 52 biomedical companies that are helping to address some of the healthcare challenges that we face – not only in the UK but globally.”
