Biotech pioneer expects payoff as sci-fi dreams become reality

The York-based company is in the process of commercialising its patented decellularisation (or dCELL) technology platform.

The process removes cells from human and animal tissue, leaving a scaffold which can be inserted into the body and repopulated with new cells.

The group said its pipeline of new products is progressing through the various demanding regulatory requirements.

It expects its leading products will be commercialised in the coming year.

Yesterday the company announced an expected increased pre-tax loss of £4m in the year to January 31, up from £2.9m the previous year.

The group’s managing director Antony Odell said this came about because of additional development spending and an increase in the number of employees as product programmes are moved forward.

Earlier this month Tissue Regenix said that more than half of the patients involved in the first trial of its new treatment for chronic leg ulcers found their wounds healed completely.

The trial of the new product, produced by NHS Blood and Transplant (NHSBT) Tissue Services, used a graft prepared using Tissue Regenix’s dCELL technology from skin donated by deceased tissue donors and processed to remove all the donor cells.

This new therapy involves a graft, known as dCELL Human Dermis, which is not rejected by the patients’ immune system.

A fund-raising last year has enabled the group to develop a number of different products in parallel.

It has also established a subsidiary in the US, which will help it to develop an international presence.

The group’s dCELL Dermis product will soon be undergoing trials in the US.

The increase in annual losses follows the appointment of a number of business development managers

Chairman John Samuel said the company is well placed to capitalise on the Government’s strategy to maintain a world-leading presence in life sciences by encouraging investment, research and innovation within the NHS and leading UK universities.

“In particular, we have a strong relationship with Leeds University where the technology continues to be developed further,” he said.

“We translate that world leading research into commercial applications and, by working with bodies such as the NHS, we are capable of delivering global solutions to key and enormously costly medical problems. “

The group said that regenerative medicine is capable of revolutionising healthcare and significantly improving patient outcomes.

“There are significant cost pressures on healthcare budgets around the world and the delivery of dCELL solutions will make a significant and beneficial impact,” said Mr Samuel.

“For example the dCELL Dermis product is aimed at tackling chronic wounds which it is estimated cost the UK alone over £1bn every year. The need for products employing tissue engineering is very large and growing quickly.

“The chronic shortage of human donor tissue will result in even more demand for animal tissue-based solutions.”

The group’s dCELL Dermis product maintains the essential structure of normal skin and serves as a scaffold for the patients’ cells to migrate into and regenerate living, functional skin tissue.

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