Arterius seeks £3M to commercialise biodegradable coronary stent

Investment opportunity

Arterius Ltd, of Leeds, is seeking £3 million investment bring its biodegradable coronary stent to the worldwide market.

The development builds on 30 years of coronary stent technology, beginning with the bare metal stent, with its 30 per cent failure rate, onto the most recent invention, the drug eluting stent. This newer technology is flawed however, as blood clotting can still occur.

A fully biodegradable stent is considered to be the answer to these problems. The development work is being led by industry experts Kadem Al-Lamee and Alistair Taylor with support from three UK universities.

Prototypes will be developed by Phil Coates, an expert in polymer engineering at Bradford University. The aim is that the new stents will enter Phase I clinical trials by 2014.

Al-Lamee and Taylor joined forces in 2009 to combine their experience in the stent industry. Taylor was co-founder and chairman of another devices company, Lombard Medical, which bought Al-Lamee’s company Polymed, a developer of coatings for medical devices, in 2001. Taylor was also the CEO of Schneider AG, the company that claims to have developed the first ever stent.

The pair are currently funding the business from their own resources, and are now seeking further capital. The company has approached the Investing in Health programme run by the regional investment agency Yorkshire Forward.

Al-Lamee, co-founder of Arterius, said, “We are looking for up to £3 million of investment to further develop the technology and take it safely to Phase I clinical trials. We are estimating a 10 per cent share of a £1.2bn market within the next few years and can offer investors an excellent return on their investment. The team behind the Investing in Health programme has been invaluable in introducing us to potential investors, both nationally and internationally. They have also helped us shape our business plan so that we can approach investors with a solid proposition.”

For more information, visit: http://www.investinginhealth.co.uk