New seed funding for University of East Anglia spin-out

Seed funding

Chameleon Biosurfaces has secured a new £500,000 investment led by London Seed Capital, enabling it to continue development of its patented polymer coatings.

The technology addresses key adhesion, biocompatibility and drug elution issues that currently impact on the effectiveness of drug eluting stents.

The funding will be used to advance the development of coatings for drug eluting stents through the application of surface and electrochemistry techniques developed by Chris Pickett of the University of East Anglia, Norwich, UK.

The investment round was lead by London Seed Capital in conjunction with the London Business Angel Network and the London Business Angel EIS Tracker Fund III. Other investors in the syndicate included Great Eastern Investment Forum Ventures, Iceni Seedcorn Fund and Rainbow Seed Fund.

Chameleon Biosurfaces has the potential to address the life-threatening problems linked with the current generation of medical stents. Around 10 per cent of patients develop post operative complications, including inflammation and possibly blood clots, which may be caused by the polymer coatings on stents.

In preliminary studies, Chameleon's polymer coatings have shown appropriate adhesion and biocompatibility properties, which are key factors in addressing this problem.