Sheffield, London spin-out seeks £1.5M to develop CO treatment

Investment, Partnership Opportunity

hemoCORM, a spin-out of the Northwick Park Institute for Medical Research (NPIMR) and SouthamptonUniversity, is looking for investment to develop an innovative method of using small doses of carbon monoxide (CO) to treat patients with high blood pressure or who have had heart surgery or organ transplants.

Carbon monoxide, though normally lethal, can reduce inflammation, widen blood vessels, prevent blood clotting, and assist organ tranplants when applied in small amounts.  Making use of these properties, hemoCORM has developed water-soluble CO-releasing molecules (CO-RMs) which release safe amounts of CO when applied orally or by injection.

hemoCORM is looking for investment to develop CO-RMs: “We are seeking further equity investment.  The current business plan calls for £1.5 million, to complete proof of principle and prepare us for a major fundraising in 18 months time” said Philip Ledger, the chief executive of hemoCORM, “To date we have raised £1.4million from a private investor.”

The company is also “seeking corporate collaborations such as co-development opportunities with big-biotech or pharma,” added Ledger, “A corporate collaboration would hopefully lead to a license.  HemoCORM owns issued US patents covering the core technology and has a pioneering position in the field.”

hemoCORM and its collaborators have widely explored potential applications of CO-RMs, from inflammation, through myocardial ischemia and cerebral stroke, to transplantation, using a wide range of techniques.  Among the many possible medical uses for CO-RMs, renal transplantation has been identified as having significant commercial potential, strong scientific rationale, reliable animal models and reasonable ease of clinical testing.

Based in London, hemoCORM was spun-out in 2004 from the Northwick Park Institute for Medical Research (NPIMR), London, and the University of Sheffield, based on IP developed by scientists in those institutions. The company’s founders are Professor Colin Green, Dr Roberto Motterlini (both NPIMR), and Professor Brian Mann (University of Sheffield).  

Initially supported by the NPIMR and a DTI SMART award, the company scaled up its development work in early 2005, when it received its first round of seed funding.   Biological research is carried out at the NPIMR, and chemistry is centred on the Department of Chemistry, University of Sheffield.