Leicester spin-out raises £1.24M for platelet research

Funding round completed

Haemostatix, a drug development company spun out of Leicester University, UK, has announced investment of £1.24 million from existing investors Spark Ventures, CatapultNesta.

The company was formed in 2003 to commercialise the work of Leicester professor Alison Goodall’s research into platelets. Its aim is to develop a safe substitute for platelet transfusions, which are used in the treatment of potentially life threatening bleeding in cancer and surgery patients with platelet deficiency that prevents blood from clotting.

The market is potentially huge: there are more than 1.5 million platelet transfusions a year in the US alone, and around 3 million in Europe. But natural platelet transfusions can transmit infections stemming from donated blood, and also set off sever immune reactions. They also have a limited shelf life in stored blood. Haemostatix says that that the global cost of these platelets is currently around £1 billion, with at least £3 billion more spent by healthcare providers on storing and managing the transfusions.

Haemostatix also announced the appointment of a new chief executive, is Ben Nichols. Nichols has held senior commercial and general management positions in the industry, most recently as Business Development Director for Sheffield University spin-out Plasso Technology, where he helped the company to realise a trade sale exit.

Ben Nichols commented, “There is a real clinical need for a platelet substitute as donor platelets are expensive to produce, have a very short shelf life, and need to be screened to remove the risk of transmission of blood-borne viruses that cause hepatitis and HIV. There is also a strong demand for new products from the pharmaceutical industry itself, with major players seeking to in-license new drugs to bolster their pipelines. In this respect the strategy at Haemostatix is clear: our role is to innovate and demonstrate proof of principle, then out-license to major pharmaceutical companies who will complete clinical development. It is a well proven, value-adding strategy,” he added.