Inotec reaches technical milestone, triggering next round of angel investment

Milestone

Inotec AMD Ltd has announced that it has reached the technical milestones necessary to trigger the second tranche of investment from the Cambridge Capital Group of business angels. The company, which has also received funding from the Cambridge Enterprise Seed Funds, is developing a new way of providing topical oxygen therapy for use in healing chronic wounds.

The Inotec system builds on a collaboration between the company’s founders, Mel Vinton and Derek Fray, professor of materials at Cambridge University. The company is currently focused on completing two trials in the UK to test the practicality of using its product on typical leg ulcers. Further studies are planned for later in the year which will assess clinical efficacy.

The current method of administrating oxygen to hard-to heal wounds entails expensive and often ineffective treatments. Vinton said that while the chronic wound care market is intensely competitive, the Inotec system is not in direct competition with the many other technologies such as negative pressure wound therapy.

The Inotec system involves two innovations, a small, battery-powered, portable oxygen generator that can be worn on a belt, ensuring the patient has full mobility, and an oxygen delivery pad dressing that distributes oxygen uniformly over the wound and helps to remove exudates.

Inotec was founded in 2005 with the backing of Cambridge Enterprise Seed Funds. Nick Slaymaker, who managed the initial investment, said, “The annual cost of wound healing to the European health services is estimated to be £5billion. The initial feedback from the clinical trials indicates the Inotec approach is showing great promise as a way to solve this very difficult health care area.”