Tissue Regenix takes in £7M and goes public via reverse takeover

Funding | Acquisition

Leeds University spin-out Tissue Regenix Ltd, which is developing technology for producing acellular tissue replacement products from animals, is joining the Alternative Investment Market (AIM) in London, via the reverse takeover of AIM-listed Oxeco plc.

At the same time the company has raised £4.5 million in a placing with existing shareholders, which along with the money held by Oxeco gives Tissue Regenix around £7 million to begin the commercialisation of its lead product, a porcine-derived patch for use in vascular surgery. A typical application would be in patching a blood vessel after the surgical removal of plaque in an artery that has become narrow or blocked, due to peripheral vascular disease.

Tissue Regenix uses its proprietary technology platform, dCELL, to remove cells and other components from human and animal tissue allowing it to be used without anti-rejection drugs to replace worn out or diseased body parts.

The company says it has convinced the regulators that, as acellular biological scaffolds, its products should be registered as devices, and not as cell or tissue therapies. Coming along behind the vascular patch, Tissue Regenix is applying its technology to implants for repairing meniscal tears in the knee, and to heart valves.

Armed with the new funding, Tissue Regenix aims to start marketing its vascular patch in Europe during the second half of 2010. It says it will also commit a significant proportion of the new funds towards the further development of the meniscus repair product.

Tissue Regenix was spun out of Leeds University in May 2006 to commercialise the research of Eileen Ingham and John Fisher in the field of tissue decellularisation. This led to the development of dCELL, a patented process for removing cells and other components from human and animal tissue. This leaves a sterile biological scaffold that has the biomechanical properties of the tissue it is designed to replace. The products can be stored at ambient temperatures and implanted in the same way as synthetic devices.

After implantation, these scaffolds are recellularised and incorporate into the patient’s own tissue. According to Tissue Regenix, in the clinical trials of the vascular patch they are completely integrated and unlike synthetic patches, such that it is no longer possible to see where they were applied.

Using the technology to develop a product for repairing meniscal tears will be more of a breakthrough, both in terms of unmet medical need and the sophistication of the implant. The complex organisation of collagen in meniscal tissue means the structure is virtually impossible to replicate with synthetic materials.