Oxford University spin-out Orthox gets £1.6M Wellcome grant

Grant

Orthox Limited has won a £1.6 million grant from the research charity the Wellcome Trust to develop a range of novel orthopaedic products. The company aims to repair cartilage using their Spidrex cartilage, a silk biomaterial combining the resilience, high strength and bioresorption found in spider silk.

The Wellcome Trust Translation Award will be used specifically to fund the development of Orthox’s regenerative meniscal knee cartilage repair device. The meniscus is a crescent-shaped cartilage pad found in the knee joint. It acts principally as a shock absorber, to dissipate forces and stabilise the knee joint.

Meniscal injury is a huge, unsolved clinical problem, associated with ageing, obesity, and sport injuries. Damage to the meniscus is difficult to repair successfully and frequently results in osteoarthritis.

Richard Seabrook, the Wellcome Trust’s Head of Business Development, said, “Knee problems are now a major issue for health services across the world. The Wellcome Trust appreciates both the need to find a regenerative solution to knee damage and the potential of this new silk technology to address an increasingly common but complex clinical problem.”

Founder and CEO of Orthox, Nick Skaer, said, “This funding will enable us to initiate the roll-out of our pipeline of Spidrex products, starting with our meniscal repair device. In the future, we plan to develop further Spidrex products for other serious orthopaedic problems, such as spinal disc repair and bone regeneration."