Older news items from Neotherix are listed below. See the Current News page for more recent articles.

Neotherix is pleased to announce that it has become a member of Bionow. Commenting on joining Bionow, CEO Mike Raxworthy said, "We are delighted now to be a Bionow member and take our place alongside other innovative life science businesses in this network. We are looking forward to bringing our technology skills into the biomedical cluster that Bionow is supporting in the North of England". Bionow offers a range of specialist business support products and services that can be tailored to the specific stage of development of its members.

Please see the Bionow web site for more information.

We are delighted to welcome Alexej Vrublevskis to Neotherix as a Year in Industry Intern, who started with us in September. He has just completed his second year of a BSc Biochemistry degree at the University of York, and will be supporting the team on our existing projects to commercialise bioresorbable tissue regeneration scaffolds. The addition of Alexej will also allow us to explore new project opportunities.

Neotherix is pleased to announce that we are a Medipex NHS Innovation Awards 2014 Finalist. These awards are given to individuals, teams and companies working for or with the NHS in the Yorkshire and Humber region, whose ideas or inventions have, or could lead to, improvement in the patient experience.

One of five finalists in the Medical Devices & Diagnostics category, Neotherix will be attending the Medipex Innovation Awards and Showcase on 9 October 2014, which is being held in partnership with the Yorkshire and Humber Academic Health Science Network. The other four award categories are GP and Primary Care, Secondary Care, Mental Health & Wellbeing and Software & Telehealth.

Please see the Medipex NHS Innovation Awards 2014 web page for more information.

Neotherix will be attending the Regener8 Annual Conference 2014 "The Pathway to Innovation for Regenerative Therapies" on 17 September 2014. The one day meeting, to be held at the University of Leeds, will focus on the translation and commercialisation of regenerative therapies and is an opportunity to network with industrial, clinical and academic members of the regenerative medicine community.

In addition to industry-leading keynote speakers there will be a showcase of Regener8-funded projects (including a presentation by Professor David Watts on "Polymeric scaffolds functionalised for periodontal repair" - to which Neotherix is a partner).

Please see the Regener8 Annual Conference 2014 web page for more information.

Neotherix are very pleased to be able to congratulate Dr Brendan Robb on the successful completion of his PhD viva on 24 July 2014, for which his external examiner was Dr Asa Barber from the School of Engineering and Materials Science at Queen Mary University of London.

Brendan's thesis, "Processing novel electrospun polymer scaffolds for biomedical applications", has been accepted by the University of Manchester for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy. This completes the Neotherix-supported EPSRC CASE project supervised by Professor Sandra Downes at the School of Materials Science.

Tissue engineering and regenerative medicine (TERM) seeks to restore, maintain or improve tissue or organ function. This can be either by stimulating the body's own repair mechanisms or by replacing with functional tissue grown ex vivo. Innovative biomaterial-based technologies are required in order to realise the potential of TERM. Despite intensive research into preparation of scaffold materials, there are still pressing needs to develop innovative functional scaffolds to meet the challenges of new therapies.

Talented candidates with a background in biomaterials, tissue engineering and cell biology are now being sought for a 3.5 year PhD studentship with the University of East Anglia, developing novel biomaterials for musculoskeletal and orthopaedic applications. It is sponsored by Neotherix and EPSRC through an Industrial CASE award, and takes advantage of the combined expertise of Neotherix and the School of Pharmacy at the University of East Anglia.

The successful candidate will be supervised Dr Aram Saeed (School of Pharmacy, University of East Anglia), clinical supervisor Prof Simon Donell (Norfolk and Norwich University Hospital, Norwich) and industrial supervisor Dr Mike Raxworthy (Neotherix Limited, York).

The deadline for applications, which must be made through the University of East Anglia's postgraduate applications web page , is 6 July 2014.

See the project's web page or Dr Aram Saeed's profile for more information. Enquiries regarding this opportunity should be made to Dr Aram Saeed at aram.saeed@uea.ac.uk in the first instance.

A key patent protecting Neotherix' bioresorbable tissue regeneration scaffold technology has recently been granted in Japan. Japanese patent JP 5436205 was issued on 5 March 2014 and is licensed to Neotherix by Smith & Nephew PLC for a wide range of soft tissue repair, dental and surgical applications.

The patent describes scaffolds (including those made by electrospinning) that can be used as medical devices for guided tissue regeneration and repair, in particular bioresorbable scaffolds where the fibre diameter has been optimised for colonisation by cells involved in wound repair. This brings the total number of granted patents in this family to four: South Africa (ZA 200809489), United States (US 8338402), Australia (AU 2007251370) and Japan. Applications are still being pursued in other regions including Europe.

Presentations from the Nano4Life event on 5 March 2014 are now available for download on the Nano KTN web site. Regenerative Electrospun Scaffolds for Soft Tissue Repair, presented on the day by Neotherix CEO Dr Mike Raxworthy, provides an overview of our project portfolio including the acute and chronic wound therapies due to reach first-in-man clinical investigation within the next year.

Download these presentations from the NanoKTN web site (in order to download these presentations you must be registered with the TSB _connect site and join the Nano KTN network, which is free).

A case study describing an ongoing collaborative project between the University of Manchester and Neotherix has been published on the Regener8 web site. The 12 month project, "Polymeric scaffolds functionalised for periodontal repair", started in October 2013. It is supported by funding from the Regener8-Medical Technologies Innovation and Knowledge Centre (IKC) strategic partnership and is one of the proof of concept awards made to N8 university-based projects that demonstrate significant commercial potential. The case study describes how the interdisciplinary team is developing an implantable acellular electrospun barrier scaffold to help reduce the bone loss and tooth loosening associated with advanced periodontal disease. The bioresorbable scaffold will provide a barrier layer between diseased gum and the mandibular bone, promote new bone growth, and then degrade into harmless by-products once it has completed its function. Benefits of this approach include the provision of a simpler, more effective treatment without the need for multiple surgeries.

Neotherix is contributing its experience in scaling up and commercialising electrospun tissue scaffolds to help demonstrate the clinical and commercial opportunities for this technology.

Please see the Regener8 case study for more information on the project.

Link to the Medical Technologies IKC web site .

Neotherix CEO Dr Mike Raxworthy will be speaking later today, 5 March 2014, at the Nano4Life 6th Annual Conference and Exhibition in London. The conference provides a forum for the exchange of ideas and identification of gaps in the supply chain, and will focus on the convergence of nanotechnology and life sciences. It includes perspectives from clinicians, industry and academics that work with and develop nanotechnologies for the healthcare sector.

Mike's presentation, Regenerative Electrospun Scaffolds for Soft Tissue Repair, will focus mainly on our acute and chronic wound therapies due to reach first-in-man clinical investigation within the next year. The presentation will also cover more recent applications of this technology involving the encapsulation of agents within electrospun scaffold fibres and the functionalisation of scaffolds.

Please see the Nano4Life event flyer for more information.

Neotherix will be attending the third Nanofibres to Nanocomposites conference, to be held on Thursday 27 February 2014 at Medicity in Nottingham. The one day event, which follows on from the previous event held at Nottingham Trent University in October 2012, will provide further insight into the production and applications of nanofibre-based materials.

Please see the Nanofibres to Nanocomposites III event flyer for more information.

Neotherix CEO Dr Mike Raxworthy will be attending the 2014 BioSynergy Conference, to be held on Wednesday 29 January at the Food and Environment Agency (FERA) in York. The one day event, co-hosted by Science City York and Bionow, will focus on helping the life sciences community connect with potential partners, and will include one-to-one pre-booked networking sessions and themed workshops.

See the BioSynergy event web page for more information.

Neotherix has been listed in a searchable map of the UK Regenerative Medicine R&D sector produced by the HealthTech and Medicines KTN (Health KTN).

The map can be used to search the UK Regenerative Medicine landscape by region and/or organisation type.

See the Health KTN map of the UK Regenerative Medicine R&D sector .

Neotherix will be attending the launch of MeDe Innovation, the EPSRC Centre for Innovative Manufacturing in Medical Devices in Leeds on Friday 10 January 2014. The conference will also incorporate the 37th Leeds iMBE Annual Day Conference - Innovative Manufacturing in Medical Devices.

For more information and a programme for the day see the MeDe web site .

In an editorial review of electrospin polymeric nanofibres in the biomedical field, published in the Journal of Tissue Science & Engineering earlier this year, Maria Letizia Focarete and Chiara Gualandi from the University of Bologna mention Neotherix as an example of a company commercialising innovative tissue engineering products.

To read the full open access article, please see Focarete and Gualandi, Journal of Tissue Science & Engineering 2013, 4:1 .

Neotherix CEO Dr Mike Raxworthy will be presenting a poster titled "Performance In Vivo of EktoTherix™, a Synthetic Acellular Scaffold for Wound Regeneration" at the interdisciplinary TERMIS-Americas Conference to be held in Atlanta on 10-13 November 2013. This will be the twelfth in a series of continental meetings organised by TERMIS (Tissue Engineering & Regenerative Medicine International Society).

Mike will also be attending the pre-conference "Bench to Business" workshop, to be held on the morning of 10 November, which will focus on the challenges associated with technology transfer for the commercialisation of academic research.

Neotherix' poster will appear in Poster Session II on Day 3 of the conference, Tuesday 12 November. For more information, please see the TERMIS-AM 2013 web site .

Neotherix CEO Dr Mike Raxworthy will be speaking at the World Conference on Regenerative Medicine 2013, to be held in Leipzig, Germany on 23-25 October. The interdisciplinary conference, which is expected to be attended by around 1,000 delegates, covers a broad range of regenerative medicine topics ("from biomaterials to biomarkers and regulation to stem cell technologies").

Mike's presentation will be given during the Soft Tissue Regeneration session on Day 2 of the conference, 24 October, and will focus on the in vivo performance of our EktoTherix™ regenerative scaffold technology. The work showed that highly proliferative and viable cells started to populate and replace the polymer scaffold within the first four days, and that bioresorption of the polymer and the resolution of any local (macrophage) tissue reactions were complete by day 42. Compression of the scaffold into the wound bed improved scaffold integration and positively influenced the depth and area of granulation tissue formed. The study provided evidence that the use of EktoTherix may result in improved wound cosmesis and also provided proof of concept for the use of EktoTherix in excisional wound repair.

For more information, please see the World Conference on Regenerative Medicine web page .

Neotherix is pleased to announce that we have been granted further funding from the Technology Strategy Board (TSB) in the form of a Smart Proof of Market award. Awarded to high-growth-potential SMEs, the funding will support a nine month project on "Personalised tissue repair scaffolds: assessment of market and clinical attractiveness". This will focus on understanding the clinical needs that may be met by, and the commercial potential of, the next generation of products based on our bioresorbable scaffold technology. The most attractive options developed during the study, which started this October, will form the basis for a further proposal to progress the new technology and establish proof of concept.

For more information, please see the Technology Strategy Board's Smart scheme web page .

Neotherix will be presenting a poster titled "Performance In Vivo of EktoTherix™, a Synthetic Acellular Scaffold for Wound Regeneration" at this year's Regener8 Annual Conference. The meeting will be held at the Royal Armouries in Leeds on 10 October 2013 when the theme will be "translating regenerative therapies to a global market".

For more information, please see the Regener8 Annual Conference web page .

We recently welcomed George Fawcett to Neotherix as a Year in Industry Intern. As well as supporting the team on our existing projects to commercialise bioresorbable tissue regeneration scaffolds, the addition of George will allow us to explore new project opportunities. George has just completed his second year of a BSc Biotechnology degree at the University of York.

The House of Lords Science and Technology Committee recently published a report on regenerative medicine in the UK, in which it identified the potential contribution of regenerative medicine to the quality of people's lives and its future importance to the UK economy.

The Committee found that a complex regulatory system and inappropriate funding models may hinder the successful translation of regenerative medicine and cause the UK to miss out on many of the potential health and economic benefits. The report makes recommendations to overcome these barriers and take advantage of the UK's opportunity to become a world leader in regenerative medicine. The Committee proposes that by following these recommendations, the UK can make the most of its strengths which include a world-class science base and many commercial and clinical experts.

Neotherix is cited in the report as an example of the variety of companies working in this field. Also included in the report is a heat map of British regenerative medicine companies which highlights the strength of the regenerative medicine industry in the Yorkshire & Humber region, where Neotherix is based.

Link to the full House of Lords report .

Link to comments on report by Mike Raxworthy (in role as Regener8 Operations Director).

Neotherix CEO Mike Raxworthy has been invited to be a member of the MedTech Skills National Workgroup. This group is made up of industry representatives covering companies of all sizes in this sector and will be responsible for the development of a programme to provide a workforce having the skills required by the MedTech industry.

Mike Raxworthy will be able to draw on his experience as CEO of a regenerative medicine start-up company as well as being able to represent the industry members of Regener8 for which he is Operations Director. Mike also has experience of senior roles in large companies (Smith & Nephew, 3M Health Care) in this industry sector.

The Workgroup has been organised by Medilink UK and ABHI in partnership with Cogent.

Initial aims of the Workgroup will be to:

• Determine and agree the strategy and delivery mechanisms for the MedTech skills initiative to go forwards into the overall Science Industry Partnership bid;
• Agree and approve the budget for the MedTech skills initiative to go forwards into the overall Science Industry Partnership bid.

The Workgroup will determine the overall strategic goals of the medical technologies element of the Science Industry Partnership Proposal which was submitted as an outline bid to Government in March. It will provide direction and leadership for the individual initiatives to be undertaken, and if the final bid is successful, the Workgroup will provide ongoing operational governance.

The inaugural meeting of the Workgroup is being held at ABHI in London on 3 July, and a decision on the outline bid is expected from the UK Commission for Employment and Skills (UKCES) later in July.

See the UKCES website for more information.

Two international patent applications, originally filed as UK patents by Neotherix in October 2011, have just been published. Compressible Dressing (WO2013050428) describes a medical wound dressing comprising a compressible biodegradable porous scaffold, which is compressed into intimate contact with a wound bed during use. Methods for manufacturing the dressing and treating wounds with it are also described. Sampling Device (WO2013050429) describes a medical sampling device comprising a biodegradable porous scaffold that can contain a reversibly thermo-switchable gel, which in use lies in contact with tissue to be sampled. Methods for manufacturing the device and using it for the testing and diagnosis of wounds are also described.

With the previously published Scaffold (WO2010109226), which describes a polymeric scaffold containing an antibacterial photoactive drug for tissue regeneration and repair applications, this brings the total number of Neotherix-owned patent applications to three. These applications complement others for which we have taken a licence and expand Neotherix' intellectual property portfolio covering different applications of our tissue regeneration scaffold technology.

These patent applications are available on the European Patent Office's Espacenet service as Compressible Dressing (WO2013050428) , Sampling Device (WO2013050429) and Scaffold (WO2010109226) .

Brendan Robb, PhD student from the Neotherix-supported CASE project with Professor Sandra Downes from the School of Materials, University of Manchester, has just completed a visit to Neotherix' site in York in order to carry out comparative experiments using Neotherix' electrospinning process.

Brendan has modelled Neotherix' process on the research-scale electrospinning rig and environmental chamber in Manchester, which was designed and built as part of his PhD project. The data collected during his visit to York will enable Brendan to compare and refine his model of the Neotherix process and verify how the changes in parameters such as electric field size and shape affect scaffold production when scaling up from a research-scale rig to Neotherix' manufacturing-scale process.

This work supports the overall objective of Brendan's PhD project, which is to model the complex interactions between different electrospinning parameters and explore how scaffold materials produced using optimised process conditions interact with clinically relevant cell types. Now near to the end of the project, this work will help facilitate more effective translation of electrospun scaffold technology from the laboratory to the clinic and the market.

Two members of the Neotherix team have recently undertaken specialist medical device training in order to improve Neotherix' commercial readiness. The first three-day course described the most effective methods for planning and implementing a quality management system compliant with ISO 13485 (Medical devices - Quality management systems - requirements for regulatory purposes). The second two-day course covered the expert skills required to produce a comprehensive clinical evaluation report, in order to determine whether a clinical investigation is required or if sufficient data already exists.

The training, carried out by the international training and consultancy company NSF-DBA, will improve Neotherix' capability and places us in a stronger position to commercialise our products.

Link to the NSF-DBA web site .

A key patent protecting Neotherix' bioresorbable tissue regeneration scaffold technology has now been granted in the United States. US patent 8,338,402 was issued by the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) on 25 December 2012 and is licensed to Neotherix by Smith & Nephew PLC for a wide range of soft tissue repair, dental and surgical applications.

The patent describes scaffolds (including those made by electrospinning) that can be used as medical devices for guided tissue regeneration and repair, in particular scaffolds comprising fibres having a mean fibre diameter of between 1.9 to 2.6 µm wherein the fibres comprise over 95% glycolide. Another patent in the same family was previously granted in South Africa (ZA 2008/09489), with further applications being pursued in other regions including Europe, China and Australia.

The patent is available to view on the USPTO web site .

Neotherix will be exhibiting at stand 22 of the Technology Strategy Board's Collaboration Nation event on Monday 10 December 2012 at the etc. St Pauls conference centre in London. The event will be showcasing the more than 70 winning SMEs from the Technology Strategy Board's Feasibility Studies funding competitions, and brings those companies together with potential collaborators and funders in order to take new ideas to market.

Neotherix CEO Dr Mike Raxworthy will be using the opportunity to speak about the recent successful completion of our four month Advanced Materials Technology-Inspired Innovation project, one of the Feasibility Studies funded by a £25k grant from the Technology Strategy Board. The project, described in one of our earlier news articles, explored the feasibility of combining a selection of anti-cancer drugs with our proprietary electrospun scaffold technology to create new advanced regenerative medicine products for therapeutic applications.

We will be one of 30 companies exhibiting at the event. Please see the Collaboration Nation - December 2012 web site for more information.

Neotherix CEO Dr Mike Raxworthy will speak about the upcoming first-in-man clinical testing of EktoTherix™ and about the other innovative tissue scaffold products in our pipeline at the BioYorkshire 2012 event, being held at FERA in York on Wednesday 5 December 2012.

BioYorkshire 2012 is a showcase and networking event for companies in the medical, healthcare, biotechnology and pharmaceutical sectors, with a focus on the design and development of new technologies and innovations. Neotherix is one of the companies selected to feature in the Yorkshire Showcase section of the event.

Please see the BioYorkshire 2012 web site for more information.

Neotherix has been accepted onto the Growth Accelerator programme. Growth Accelerator is a partnership between the UK Government and the private sector that was launched earlier this year. It is targeted at companies assessed to have a genuine potential for rapid and sustainable growth and works by matching businesses with proven business experts to agree a tailored growth plan. For Neotherix, engagement will mean particular emphasis on securing the finance needed to complete the translation of EktoTherix™ to the clinic and the market. Mike Raxworthy will be taking part in a number of masterclasses over the next few months and working with experts with a proven track record and experience in helping high growth businesses raise investment and obtain finance.

Please see the Growth Accelerator web site for more information.

Neotherix will be exhibiting at the Nanofibres to Nanocomposites II meeting to be held at Nottingham Trent University (NTU) on Wednesday 16 October 2012. The event, a collaboration between the NanoKTN and NTU, is a follow-up to last year's Nanofibres to Nanocomposites event held at the Science and Technology Facilities Council's Rutherford Appleton Laboratory. It will focus on the technology to produce and incorporate nanofibres into nanocomposites for biomedical and other applications and on how this has progressed.

Dr Peter Iddon, Development Manager at Neotherix, will be giving a technology pitch at the event. He will describe partnering opportunities arising from the commercial translation of Neotherix' regenerative scaffold technology.

Please see the Nanofibres to Nanocomposites II web site for more details.

Neotherix will be presenting at the Regener8 Annual Conference 2012 "Regenerative Therapies: the Road to the Clinic" on 27 September 2012. The one day meeting, to be held at the BALTIC Centre for Contemporary Art in Newcastle, will focus on the theme of progressing regenerative therapies into the clinic.

Dr Peter Iddon, Development Manager at Neotherix, will be speaking about the development of our EktoTherix™ regenerative scaffold technology. The presentation will cover the work undertaken to translate EktoTherix into the clinic and lessons learned to date, in partnership with Lorien Engineering Solutions and Smith & Nephew and funded by a grant under the Technology Strategy Board's Developing Therapeutics 2 programme.

Please see the Regener8 Annual Conference 2012 web page for more information.

Neotherix has been invited to participate in an advanced woundcare mission to China from 8-14 September 2012. The mission, organised by UK Trade & Investment (UKTI) and Medilink UK, will allow the selected companies to showcase their products and technologies at the 5th International Wound Dressings Conference in Beijing. Representatives from China's woundcare industry, R&D organisations, hospitals and policy makers will be attending this high profile event, which includes 1:1 meetings, exhibition space and the opportunity to present at a "UK day" on 10 September.

Mike Raxworthy, Neotherix' Founder and CEO will be giving three presentations during the event. One will describe our electrospun regenerative scaffold technology and how that can be utilised in the development of novel products that enhance tissue repair. Another will focus on the products that Neotherix is developing, including recent progress made with our pipeline of EktoTherix™, RegeniTherix™ and PhotoTherix™. The remaining presentation will describe the use of non-woven materials and composites in the treatment of wounds, including a perspective on the possible future developments in this field.

Members of the mission will also spend a day in Guangzhou as guests of the Guangzhou International Biotech Island where they will meet Guangzhou-based wound management and tissue repair companies.

UKTI have noted that China's announcement in 2009 of a $124 billion investment over 3 years to reform its healthcare system and to develop its relatively immature advanced wound care market provides ample opportunity for UK companies. Neotherix is well placed to be involved as a partner in these developments.

Please see the advanced woundcare mission web page for more information.

Neotherix is currently taking part in the NanoRegen Mission to Germany and Austria (4-7 September 2012). Six UK companies involved in the development of nano-structured materials and biomaterials for use in tissue engineering and regenerative medicine are visiting centres of research excellence in Leipzig and Berlin before moving on to Vienna for the conclusion of the TERMIS conference which includes the "Industry Day". As well as providing significant opportunities for networking, all companies will be speaking at workshops arranged at the Fraunhofer IZI, Leipzig and the British Embassy, Berlin.

The NanoKTN, in partnership with Chemistry Innovation KTN have organised the mission which is being led by Professor Chris Mason, Head of the Regenerative Medicine Bioprocess Group in the Advanced Centre for Biochemical Engineering at UCL.

Please see the NanoRegen article on the NanoKTN web site for more information and a daily blog of the mission.

Neotherix is delighted to announce the award of £25k by the Technology Strategy Board (TSB) for a four month feasibility study. The new project will develop Neotherix electrospun scaffolds to incorporate additional anti-cancer functionality for regenerative medicine applications.

This project will explore the feasibility of combining a selection of anti-cancer drugs with Neotherix' proprietary electrospun scaffold technology to create new advanced regenerative medicine products for therapeutic applications. As the number of applications and technologies for regenerative medicine continue to grow, there will be an increasing demand for such functional materials that are capable of carrying out multiple roles during tissue repair.

This investment in Neotherix follows a successful proposal made to the TSB's Technology-Inspired Innovation competition in the Advanced Materials and Nanoscale Technologies technology category. Neotherix is one of 71 SMEs awarded funding to carry out feasibility studies in the across a broad range of technology areas, as part of a wider £20m investment in these growth-creating technologies by the TSB, Scottish Enterprise and the Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council.

Please see the TSB competition announcement web page or download the TSB press release for more information.

Brendan Robb, PhD student from the Neotherix-supported CASE project with Professor Sandra Downes from the School of Materials, University of Manchester, will be presenting research findings at two conferences in late May/early June. Brendan will be speaking on "Optimising the electrospinning process for the production of biocompatible scaffolds" at Electrospin 2012 in Jeju, Korea and will then go on to the 9^th World Biomaterials Congress in Chengdu, China where he will present a poster on "Optimising electrospun biodegradable scaffolds to encourage specific tissue regeneration". Data to be presented has been gathered over the two years this project has been running during which the influence of a number of process parameters on the morphology, properties and uniformity of electrospun tissue scaffolds has been studied. The application of precise process conditions to obtain scaffolds with properties specific to the regeneration of a particular tissue is the overall objective of this project.

Links to the Electrospin 2012 conference web site , the 9^th World Biomaterials Congress web site and the Downes Group web site .

Dr Lorenzo Pio Serino, Biomaterials Scientist at Neotherix, has become a Visiting Research Fellow at the Leeds Dental Institute (LDI), University of Leeds. This arrangement will enable specialist project work to be conducted using laboratory facilities at LDI for Neotherix' collaboration with LDI and the University of Bradford. The consortium is responsible for the PhotoTherix™ antimicrobial-loaded scaffold development project for which current funding has been awarded through the Science Bridges China programme. Neotherix remains responsible for scaffold production (including encapsulation of a photosensitising agent to permit the use of photodynamic therapy in the management of oral surgical wounds) and Lorenzo Pio will conduct laboratory trials to assess the antimicrobial activity of scaffolds during his Visiting Research Fellowship. A patent application has been filed around the PhotoTherix concept.

Links to our consortium partners Leeds Dental Institute and Institute of Pharmaceutical Innovation, University of Bradford . Links to the Science Bridges China programme and our patent application published on the World Intellectual Property Organization web site .

EktoTherix™ has attracted the attention of the Sunday Express. The Technology Strategy Board funding for the project to Neotherix and partners allowing progression towards clinical investigation was noted in a story in the Business section on 18 March 2012.

See the Sunday Express clipping (copyright ©2012 Northern and Shell Media Publications).

A consortium led by Neotherix has won a further grant to develop EktoTherix™ - a novel regenerative tissue scaffold for the repair of wounds left by surgical procedures such as those following skin cancer treatment. The £414,000 project is funded by Technology Strategy Board and follows earlier EktoTherix projects at Feasibility (2009) and Developing Therapeutics 1 (2010) stages, also supported by TSB. Neotherix will collaborate with Lorien Engineering Solutions and Smith & Nephew Advanced Wound Management to complete the steps needed for EktoTherix to enter a First in Man clinical trial at the start of 2013. The milestone of collation and reporting of clinical data is due in September 2013. Neotherix is targeting a market launch in mid-2014 for the product, which can also be used for the repair of other acute wounds such as lacerations and surgical wounds.

See the full Neotherix press release.

Links to Lorien Engineering Solutions , Smith & Nephew Advanced Wound Management and Technology Strategy Board .

Neotherix will be attending Venturefest Yorkshire 2012, a one day exhibition showcasing Yorkshire's most inspiring science, technology and knowledge companies, on 8 February 2012.

The day includes seminars, an exhibition, networking opportunities and the Innovation Showcase, an exhibition of about thirty of Yorkshire's high growth potential companies.

See the Venturefest Yorkshire web site for more details.

Neotherix CEO Dr Mike Raxworthy will speak about Regenerative electrospun scaffolds for soft tissue repair at the Polymers in Regenerative Medicine symposium on 25 January 2012, being held by the Biophysical Sciences Institute at Durham University.

This symposium features speakers from both industry and academia and will focus on novel polymers and their application to the field of regenerative medicine.

Please see the Biophysical Sciences Institute home page for more information.

Neotherix is delighted to receive further funding from the Technology Strategy Board to continue the development of our lead product EktoTherix™ regenerative tissue scaffold for the repair of surgical excisions and other acute wounds. The funding will take EktoTherix through to first-in-man clinical studies, which are expected to be initiated one year from the start of the project.

Fourteen regenerative medicine projects have been awarded a total of £8.5 million grant funding by the Technology Strategy Board. For more details please see the Technology Strategy Board press release .

Neotherix will be presenting at the Nanofibres to Nanocomposites meeting to be held at the Rutherford Appleton Laboratory, Didcot on Tuesday 8 November 2011. The event is a collaboration between the NanoKTN and the Science and Technology Facilities Council's Rutherford Appleton Laboratory, and will focus on new developments in electrospinning in market sectors as diverse as regenerative medicine, 3D cell culture, fuel cells and photocatalysis.

Dr Lorenzo Pio Serino, Biomaterials Scientist at Neotherix, will be speaking on "Developing electrospun scaffolds for soft tissue repair". He will describe Neotherix' use of electrospinning technology in the development of bioresorbable regenerative scaffolds with particular focus on the development of PhotoTherix™, an antimicrobial-loaded scaffold designed for the repair and management of oral surgical wounds.

PhotoTherix™ is being developed in collaboration with the Leeds Dental Institute and the Institute of Pharmaceutical Innovation, University of Bradford and has recently received funding from the Science Bridges China programme. The antimicrobial, a photodynamic therapy (PDT) agent, is released as the bioresorbable electrospun scaffold degrades and the wound heals. The PDT agent is preferentially taken up by any bacteria present, which are subsequently killed by the optional activation of the PDT agent using a light source. The antimicrobial-loaded scaffold has also been shown to support the growth of stem cells.

Please see the Nanofibres to Nanocomposites web site for more details.

Links to our PhotoTherix™ development partners Leeds Dental Institute and Institute of Pharmaceutical Innovation, University of Bradford .

Link to the Science Bridges China web site.

Neotherix has been invited to join the UKTI Health & Ageing Mission to the East and West Coasts of the US starting on 21 October 2011. The mission will start in Boston with a presentation to the MassMEDIC MedTech Investors Conference, a Health & Ageing seminar with key opinion leaders from across the US on 24 October and a workshop on primary care innovation at the Center for Integration of Medicine & Innovative Technology (CIMIT) on 25 October. Activities will then switch to San Francisco with high-level meetings associated with the Investment in Innovation (IN3) Summit taking place on 26-28 October. Mike Raxworthy, Neotherix' Founder and CEO will be presenting opportunities available through the EktoTherix™ programme as well as introducing other product developments arising from the company's regenerative tissue scaffold technology at both MassMEDIC and IN3. Mike Raxworthy will also represent Regener8 (the N8 Centre for Technology Translation in Regenerative Medicine) at the CIMIT workshop.

Links to the MassMEDIC MedTech Investors Conference web page , the IN3 Summit web site , the Regener8 web site and the UKTI Health & Ageing Mission web page .

Neotherix' stand at Innovate '11 (on Tuesday 11 October 2011 at the Business Design Centre in London) will be stand HW17 in the Health and Wellness zone.

Please see our previous news item for more event details.

Neotherix will be exhibiting at Innovate '11 on Tuesday 11 October 2011 at the Business Design Centre in London. This is one of the Technology Strategy Board's flagship events and will address all aspects of challenge-led and technology innovation. The themes covered include health & wellbeing, high value manufacturing, agri-food, digital, energy, travel & transport and the built environment. The event will feature presentations from keynote speakers (including the Business Secretary, Vince Cable and the Universities and Science Minister, David Willetts), a full programme of seminars and networking opportunities with representatives from business, academia and government (including 1:1 meetings).

Neotherix will be one of more than 100 exhibitors at this year's event. We will be showcasing the extent of our work on regenerative scaffolds for soft tissue repair. Neotherix will be located in the Health and Wellness zone, which will feature our lead product EktoTherix™ regenerative tissue scaffold for repair of skin cancer excisions and other acute wounds. Also featured will be the recent development work performed in partnership with NPL on the RegeniTherix™ theranostic system for treatment and point-of-care testing of problem, non-healing wounds.

Please see the Innovate '11 web site for more details and registration information (including the Day at a Glance ). Also see this link to NPL's Biotechnology Group web page .

An EPSRC Knowledge Transfer Account (KTA) grant has been awarded to a feasibility study involving Neotherix and the University of Manchester. The £8.3m KTA grant, awarded to the University by the EPSRC in 2009, is focused on increasing the impact, uptake and exploitation of research investments made by EPSRC.

This three month project, lead by Professor Sandra Downes of the School of Materials at the University of Manchester, will explore the possibility of developing a range of phosphonic acid-based biopolymers for use in dental applications. It follows on from a successful BBSRC-funded project which developed the novel phosphonic acid-containing biomaterials and demonstrated their osteoconductive properties. Two patent applications on the technology have already been published, and another filed.

The new project is complimentary to Neotherix' existing interests in the use of tissue regenerative scaffolds for oral surgery and other dental applications such as implantology (PhotoTherix™ and OraTherix™ projects). It will establish how novel osteoconductive biopolymers can be used to treat the loss of bone associated with advanced periodontal disease, by fabricating novel regenerative scaffolds containing the phosphonic acid-based biomaterials. There is a significant unmet clinical need for materials that can assist in the regeneration of alveolar bone which has been lost due to periodontal disease.

Also involved in the project is Professor David Watts of the Dental School at the University of Manchester, an expert on dental biomaterials with experience in translation of basic research into clinical applications.

Link to the web pages for the School of Materials, University of Manchester , the School of Dentistry, University of Manchester and the University of Manchester KTA .

Neotherix will be attending the Regener8 Annual Conference 2011 "Delivery of Regenerative Technologies on a Commercial Scale" on 29 September 2011. The one day meeting, to be held at the Lowry Theatre and Art Gallery in Manchester, will focus on the translation and commercialisation of regenerative therapies. Background information on Neotherix' scaffolds for soft tissue repair and regeneration will be available at the meeting.

In addition to industry-leading keynote speakers there will be a showcase of Regener8-funded projects (including PhotoTherix™ - to which Neotherix is a partner) and opportunities to network with industrial, clinical and academic members of the regenerative medicine community.

Link to the Regener8 Annual Conference 2011 web page.

Neotherix has been selected to present at the next Oxford Investment Opportunity Network (OION) Investment Meeting on Tuesday 20 September 2011 at the Saïd Business School, University of Oxford.

OION is a business angel network that links investor members to high growth technology (particularly MedTech) companies seeking business and product development funds. Its members also include venture capital firms, funds, and corporate venturers. In the last three years OION has helped over 40 companies to secure more than £27m in funding.

Dr Mike Raxworthy, the company's founder and CEO, will be presenting on Neotherix to an invited audience of investors. Mike's presentation will focus mainly on EktoTherix™ regenerative tissue scaffold for acute wound repair but will also cover opportunities arising from pipeline projects. Also attending the event will be Dr Rod Adams, Chairman of Neotherix.

Link to the OION web site .

The NanoRegen focus group of the NanoKTN, in collaboration with regeNer8 and the Chemistry Innovation and HealthTech & Medicines KTNs, is holding a Celebration of Biomaterials in Regenerative Medicine: Success Stories & Collaboration event at the University of Leeds. This event, on 7 July 2011, will champion current successes in the academic and industrial development of new biomaterials and scaffolds for use within tissue engineering, and will include elevator pitches, networking and poster sessions.

Dr Peter Iddon, Development Manager for Neotherix, will be presenting an elevator pitch on RegeniTherix™ wound repair and point-of-care diagnostic. A poster on the use of a thermo-reversible hydrogel as a proof of concept for the sampling of extracellular matrix components from 3D cell culture systems will also be displayed in the poster sessions.

Link to the Celebration of Biomaterials in Regenerative Medicine event web page.

Mike Raxworthy has been invited to participate in a number of open innovation and partnering workshops in China from 11-18 April 2011. Meetings are taking place in Changzhou (Open Innovation), Suzhou (Partnering event) and Shenzhen (China Medical Equipment Fair and symposium on "New Generation Solutions to Wound Management and Orthopaedics"). Mike will make a presentation on "Regenerative Scaffolds for Tissue and Wound Repair" at the latter.

A party of 11 industry representatives and 10 academics involved in technology translation is taking part of in the 8 day mission which is organised by the Science Bridges China programme based at the University of Bradford, and Medilink Yorkshire and Humber.

Links to the Science Bridges China programme and the Medilink Yorkshire and Humber web sites.

Neotherix has been selected to present at the IBIZ Invest forum, which is part of the UKTI Life Sciences International Business Innovation Zone. IBIZ 2011 will showcase the latest innovation in biotech and medtech companies, and is being held on 9-10 March 2011 within the Healthcare Innovation Expo, the largest healthcare innovation event in the UK.

Dr Mike Raxworthy, the company's founder and Chief Executive Officer, will be presenting on Neotherix to an invited audience of investors in front of an investment panel composed of business angels, venture capitalists and sector specialists. Mike's presentation will focus mainly on EktoTherix™ regenerative tissue scaffold for acute wound repair.

The Healthcare Innovation Expo will host over 250 exhibitors, 250 speakers and 250 seminars and is expected to attract over 10,000 delegates. See the IBIZ Invest web site for more information on the investment forum and the Healthcare Innovation Expo 2011 web site for more information on Expo 2011.

Neotherix will be one of 20 emerging medical technology companies that will be showcased at the Emerging Medical Technologies Spotlight on 2 March 2011. This Life Science Intelligence (LSI) event is online, providing a convenient forum in which medical technology innovators, investors, and dealmakers can connect and collaborate. The programme will feature selected companies at different stages of development that are seeking investors, acquisition and partnerships with larger medical technology companies.

Dr Mike Raxworthy, the company's founder and Chief Executive Officer, will be presenting on Neotherix' core technology, target market and recent development work on its lead product, EktoTherix™. The presentation will also cover provide information on skin cancer as a poorly-met clinical need and the company's strategy for post-surgical repair.

See the LSI press release on Yahoo News for more details.

For the third year running, Neotherix will be exhibiting at Venturefest Yorkshire 2011, a one day exhibition of Yorkshire's most inspiring science, technology and knowledge companies, on 16 February 2011 at York Racecourse. Neotherix will be part of the Innovation Showcase - an exhibition of thirty four of Yorkshire's high growth-potential companies.

Registration for delegates to Venturefest is free on the day so please come and visit us at the Innovation Showcase.

See the Venturefest web site for more details.

Neotherix was one of four medical technology companies based in Yorkshire that participated in a trade mission to New Jersey in early February 2011. The three day mission was organised by the Investing in Health programme and led by business and financial advisers Grant Thornton as part of Yorkshire Forward's Understanding Finance for Business programme.

The mission allowed the companies to meet with venture capitalists, corporate partners and universities from the New Jersey area through a series of one-to-one meetings and a networking reception. Neotherix communicated progress made in its EktoTherix™ programme as well as introducing other product developments arising from its regenerative tissue scaffold technology.

Links to the Investing in Health web site and the York Press news article .

Following the award of a £16k extension funding grant by regeNer8, Neotherix is continuing work to develop PhotoTherix™, a novel antimicrobial-loaded scaffold. This work is being carried out in collaboration with the Leeds Dental Institute and the Institute of Pharmaceutical Innovation (University of Bradford) and is a continuation of our successful collaborative Regenerative Medicine Technology Validation study with these partners (see earlier news article).

This work has so far resulted in a robust proof of concept and the completion of an international patent filing, published in September 2010. This additional funding will allow a preliminary business plan to be developed in which the product concept, features and benefits will be defined, target markets identified and possible clinical indications assessed. The plan will form the basis for continued development of the proprietary technology and further applications for funding.

Links to our consortium partners Leeds Dental Institute and Institute of Pharmaceutical Innovation, University of Bradford . The published PhotoTherix patent application is available on the World Intellectual Property Organization web site .

Neotherix has been invited to take part in the forthcoming Future Health Mission 2011 to San Francisco and Silicon Valley in January 2011. The mission, supported by the Technology Strategy Board and UK Trade and Investment, will allow the selected group of 20 innovative and high growth potential companies to establish contacts with investors, potential partners and customers in the US. The mission will be aligned to the JP Morgan Healthcare Conference which will provide opportunities to explore the global marketplace and gain insights from US entrepreneurs. Neotherix will be communicating progress made in its EktoTherix™ programme as well as introducing other product developments arising from its regenerative tissue scaffold technology.

Links to the Technology Strategy Board press release and the Future Health Mission 2011 web site .

Neotherix is pleased to announce that Dr Mike Raxworthy, the company's founder and Chief Executive Officer, will be presenting at the 8th annual conference on Commercial Translation of Regenerative Medicine on 18-19 November at the Hilton Kensington, London.

Dr Raxworthy's presentation, at 16:35 on Friday 19 November, will focus on accessing translational funding for RegenMed product development and will highlight Neotherix' success in gaining project funding from the UK Technology Strategy Board for the development of its pipeline of bioresorbable tissue scaffold devices. The talk will discuss the electrospinning technology platform used to form these scaffolds and opportunities for their use in soft tissue repair. Mike Raxworthy will also discuss other opportunities for obtaining funding to progress from the research stage to translation towards the clinic and the market for regenerative therapies. Finally, some observations will be made on the outlook for accessing funding in 2011.

The Commercial Translation of Regenerative Medicine conference brings together some of the world's leading companies and experts involved in developing regenerative medicine therapies and the strategies to take these to a successful and sustainable market entry. Dr Raxworthy is delighted to be invited to participate in the meeting and to be included amongst the leading experts from industry and academia presenting on the translational barriers and advances inherent in the commercialisation of regenerative medicine.

More details of the conference can be found here .

Neotherix CEO Dr Mike Raxworthy has been invited to act as one of the judges for the Yorkshire and Humber Bioscience Young Entrepreneur Scheme (YES) competition. This is a Yorkshire Forward-funded competition designed to raise awareness of the potential for commercialising bioscience ideas among postgraduate and postdoctoral researchers working at universities in Yorkshire and Humberside. Teams will develop business plans with the help of mentors over two days and then pitch to the judging panel (who will be taking the role of venture capitalists). Winning teams will be selected to progress to the final in London in December.

This is the third year Mike has acted as a judge for Bioscience YES and he has also served as a mentor and presented a case study in the development of Neotherix' tissue scaffolds in previous competitions.

Links to Bioscience YES , Biotechnology YES and RegeniTherix case study

A consortium of experts has won a significant grant to develop a novel regenerative medicine product to help skin cancer patients.

EktoTherix™, a bioresorbable scaffold material that assists patient tissue repair and regeneration, has been developed by Neotherix Limited supported by Lorien Engineering Solutions and Smith & Nephew Advanced Wound Management. Matrix Knowledge Group also joined the consortium to provide economic evaluation for the new product into clinical practice. The consortium has secured 50% funding for the £345,000 project from the Technology Strategy Board to take the therapy to the next stage of development. This follows an earlier feasibility project grant made to Neotherix by the Board in 2009.

The product works by applying a patch of EktoTherix™ following excision of the basal or squamous cell carcinoma by the clinician, and this rapidly allows the wound space to be filled with (and then covered by) the patients' own skin cells. The product is formed via an electrospinning process, and the highly porous three-dimensional scaffold structure supports the migration and proliferation of fibroblast cells from surrounding healthy skin tissue to facilitate healing of the wound.

This innovative treatment provides an aesthetically acceptable repair to the skin, avoids the need to either graft donor skin tissue from elsewhere on the patient or have an extended healing process with regular dressing changes with an increased risk of infection, and provides a convenient and cost-effective treatment for dermatologists and surgeons.

Neotherix' initial clinical target concerns the post-surgical treatment of non-melanoma skin cancers. Further clinical applications are expected. Mike Raxworthy, CEO of York-based Neotherix said: "This Technology Strategy Board funded project will continue the development of the product towards full commercialisation. It will allow us to conduct confirmatory preclinical testing for efficacy and safety, perform GMP production trials and explore the patient pathway including the initial stage of a clinical economic evaluation. On completion of this project our aim is to conduct a clinical evaluation of the product, with an estimated market launch in late 2012. The estimated global market for this product is £360m per annum."

Midlands-based Lorien Engineering Solutions is assisting in the development of the commercialisation pathway for the product. In particular, Lorien is leading the definition of GMP manufacturing requirements and manufacturing risk evaluation which will be required by regulatory authorities. Lorien's life sciences director Bill Treddenick said: "This grant award is fantastic news for the project as the product has the potential to greatly improve patient outcomes during non-melanoma skin cancer excisions. Lorien is delighted to be part of such a successful consortium of companies working in the regenerative medicine arena, and in particular to be able to continue our involvement with Mike Raxworthy and colleagues at Neotherix following completion of the Technology Strategy Board-funded feasibility project earlier this year."

Commenting on the grant awards for regenerative medicine projects, Iain Gray, the Technology Strategy Board's Chief Executive, said: "Regenerative medicine has already provided significant medical advances in areas such as skin regeneration for burns patients, and it has the potential to offer cures and treatments with long-term benefits. The UK is a world leader in this area, with a strong science base. For us to fulfil our potential in this field, a number of development challenges need to be overcome, so that British businesses - and the wider economy - can benefit from the successful commercial exploitation of promising discoveries."

The investment in EktoTherix™ is part of a £21.5m programme of competitions, managed by the Technology Strategy Board, in the area of regenerative medicine. Launched in September 2009, the programme is supported by the Medical Research Council (MRC), the Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council (BBSRC) and the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC). In January 2010 the Board announced its first investments through the programme, with 31 feasibility studies receiving £2.8m of funding while three major collaborative research and development projects received £2.3m. The Board announced a further investment in July 2010 with 16 research and development projects and 12 feasibility studies sharing £5.1m.

See the full Neotherix press release.

Links to Lorien Engineering Solutions , Matrix Knowledge Group , Smith & Nephew and the Technology Strategy Board

Neotherix has recently begun a 3.5 year collaborative project with the University of Manchester to evaluate the control of process conditions for the uniform production of novel electrospun bioresorbable medical devices.

The PhD studentship project is funded by Neotherix and EPSRC through an Industrial CASE award, and takes advantage of the combined expertise of Neotherix and the Schools of Materials and Electrical & Electronic Engineering at the University of Manchester.

The project will evaluate the impact of various process conditions on the electrospinning of bioresorbable polymers under controlled conditions for the manufacture of 3D electrospun scaffolds. Optimising the process parameters to consistently produce uniform high-quality fibres is paramount for the successful commercial development of this technology for Regenerative Medicine applications, such as wound and soft tissue repair and musculoskeletal disorders.

Comprehensive characterisation of the resulting scaffolds will allow us to gain a better understanding of the often complex interactions between the various parameters. In addition, in vitro assessment will allow us to characterise the effect of scaffold architecture and surface properties on the behaviour of clinically relevant cell types.

A greater understanding of the complex interplay between process conditions will facilitate more effective translation of electrospun scaffold technology from the laboratory to the clinic and the market.

Links to the EPSRC web site and the web sites of the School of Material Science and School of Electrical & Electronic Engineering at the University of Manchester

Neotherix has been named as one of 40 companies receiving funds from the TSB's research and development investment programme in Regenerative Medicine. Neotherix' proposal, "EktoTherix: development of a regenerative tissue scaffold for repair of surgical excision wounds" was one of 30 successful applications under the Regenerative Medicine Therapeutics Feasibility scheme to which £2.8m has been allocated to explore the feasibility of delivering previously-identified therapeutic candidates into regenerative products. Neotherix will conduct pre-clinical testing on the EktoTherix scaffold and also make initial assessments of the anticipated regulatory pathway in Europe and the US and of the robustness of the current manufacturing process for translation of the product prototype to the clinic.

Commenting on the award to Neotherix, Dr Zahid Latif, Technology Strategy Board lead technologist in Medicines and Healthcare, said "the UK is a world leader in regenerative medicine and we hope that the Technology Strategy Board's extensive support programme will enable our best businesses to flourish. We are delighted to support Neotherix' feasibility study and we look forward to seeing the results of their exciting work."

See the TSB press release .

Following Neotherix' well-visited stand in the Venturefest Yorkshire 2010 Innovation Showcase and Mike Raxworthy's presentation in the Investment Competition, the company has been awarded a special prize from Business Link of £5,000 of consultancy vouchers. Neotherix was also recognised for the strength of its product development work as one of the runners up in the Investment Competition.

See the articles at TheBusinessDesk.com (registration required) and the York Press web site

Mike Raxworthy will speak about "Nanofibrous scaffolds for soft tissue repair" at the Institute of Nanotechnology's "Nanomedicine: Visions for the Future" conference in Amsterdam on 25 February 2010. The conference will focus on the emerging fields of nanoscale drug delivery, disease imaging and treatment, nanotechnology in diagnostics & monitoring and regenerative medicine. Neotherix is one of seven companies invited to present (and the only company presenting in the regenerative medicine section).

Link to the Nanomedicine Conference web page

Neotherix has been shortlisted as one of eight companies presenting at the Venturefest 2010 Investment Competition starting at 09.30 on Wednesday 10 February at York Racecourse. More information on the competition is available on the Investment Competition web page .

For the second year running, Neotherix will also be exhibiting as part of the Venturefest Yorkshire Innovation Showcase - a one day exhibition of Yorkshire's most inspiring science, technology and knowledge companies. Forty three high growth-potential companies have been selected this year and the organisers expect more than 2,000 delegates to view the exhibits, network and listen to a programme of speakers. Registration for delegates to Venturefest is free on the day so please come and visit us at the Investment Competition Finalists area of the Innovation Showcase.

Link to the Venturefest Yorkshire

Neotherix will be presenting a poster titled "A thermo-reversible hydrogel as a means of sampling extracellular matrix components from 3D cell culture systems: proof of concept" at the 11^th Annual White Rose Work in Progress Meeting on 4 January 2010. The meeting, which is hosted by the Biomaterials & Tissue Engineering Group at the University of York, will showcase work in progress in the areas of cell and tissue engineering and biomaterials.

Our poster describes recent work carried out by Neotherix in which a thermo-reversible hydrogel system was evaluated as a means of sampling cells, extracellular matrix and diffusible factors from a cell-seeded 3D scaffold. The proof-of-concept study (which is part of the RegeniTherix project funded by the Technology Strategy Board) showed the hydrogel to be a promising tool for monitoring and determining the biological profile of cells involved in the tissue repair process. Neotherix expects this to be a major benefit to researchers and clinicians working in the field of regenerative medicine.

Links to the Biomaterials and Tissue Engineering Group , Technology Strategy Board and RegeniTherix project abstract

Neotherix will be presenting at the SME Showcase for innovative Yorkshire companies during the Annual bioProcessUK Conference in York on 25-26 November. The conference is a meeting of key members of the UK biological medicines sector and is expected to attract more than 220 delegates, who will hear about the latest developments in biological and regenerative medicines and gain insight into the UK positioning in this global marketplace.

As part of the SME Showcase on 26 November, Mike Raxworthy will be speaking about EktoTherix, Neotherix' novel scaffold technology product and the opportunities to apply this to the repair of acute skin cancer excision wounds to provide simpler yet effective wound treatment and repair. The presentation will also briefly cover our pipeline projects, RegeniTherix (wound treatment and monitoring system) and PhotoTherix (antimicrobial therapy scaffold).

Link to the bioProcessUK conference web site

Neotherix is part of a collaboration awarded a £50k Regenerative Medicine Technology Validation grant by regeNer8. The project (which has an overall value of £100k) is one of four funded in this round, and is a continuation of our previous successful Proof of Concept collaborative studies with the Leeds Dental Institute, University of Leeds and the Institute of Pharmaceutical Innovation, University of Bradford (see earlier news article).

The aim is to combine three technologies using a novel scaffold, a new antimicrobial technique and, optionally, stem cells to provide an innovative approach for regenerative medicine which minimises the risk of infection. Work will focus on further synthesis of bioresorbable polymeric scaffolds containing antibacterial agents that can be activated in response to specific external stimuli. This allows targeted bacterial control without compromising the viability of cells in the surrounding normal or grafted tissue or of cells delivered via the scaffold. The results from this project will be enable us to move closer to the market for the application of tissue engineering techniques and stem cell therapy in regenerative medicine for the repair and restoration of diseased, damaged and excised tissues.

Links to the regeNer8 press release , Leeds Dental Institute and Institute of Pharmaceutical Innovation, University of Bradford

Neotherix is one of three companies shortlisted in the Yorkshire Bank Start Up Award category of the Medilink Yorkshire and Humber Innovation Day and Healthcare Business Awards 2009, taking place at The Royal Armouries, Leeds on 8 July 2009. Five other Healthcare Technologies awards will be presented at the event.

The full announcement can be found at Shortlist Announced - Yorkshire's Healthcare Oscars .

Neotherix is one of 10 companies that have just completed the third stage of Yorkshire Forward's Access to Finance for Healthcare Technologies. The scheme, which is run by a programme team of Grant Thornton, Quotec and BITECIC, aims to provide companies seeking funding to develop their technology or market offering with tailored support and advice in order to engage with appropriate sources of investment. This stage of the programme, the Investment Readiness Workshops, involved intensive seminars from experts in sector-specific market analysis, technology development, IP, legal structures, and routes to market. Details of the scheme can be found on the Yorkshire Forward Access to Finance for Healthcare Technologies web site .

Mike Raxworthy gave a presentation at the recent course on Nanotechnology and Regenerative Medicine in London (7 May 2009). The course covered the core technologies relevant to tissue engineering and regeneration, nanoscaffolds, and the challenges of bringing regenerative medicine to the market and clinic. Dr Raxworthy spoke on the Engineering of Soft, Skeletal and Vascular Tissues.

Links to course details and NanoMedNet background

Neotherix' CEO, Dr Mike Raxworthy, has agreed to take on the additional role of Business Development Manager for RegeNer8 - the N8 Centre for Translational Regenerative Medicine - for a fixed term of two years. Dr Raxworthy will combine this with his responsibilities to Neotherix and will devote approximately two days per week to this new role which will have its administrative base at the University of Leeds.

RegeNer8 is one of five research centres established by N8 (a partnership between the North of England's eight leading research-intensive universities) through the Northern Way initiative, to promote scientific and economic development in the North. It promotes a collaborative regional approach between industry, academics and clinicians and aims to accelerate the development of regenerative therapies and bring them through to clinic and market. RegeNer8 will do this by addressing barriers to translation and facilitating collaborations between the excellent academic base available within the N8 Universities and organisations seeking the commercial and clinical application of this technology in regenerative medicine.

Links to RegeNer8 and N8

With support from the Collaborative R&D grant from the Technology Strategy Board (TSB), Neotherix has employed a Biomaterials Scientist to develop the scaffold-hydrogel composite component of the RegeniTherix™ wound care device and point-of-care diagnostic system.

Seconded for one year to the Centre for Biomolecular Sciences at the University of Nottingham, Lorenzo Pio Serino is developing the reversible hydrogel that will be integrated with our bioresorbable scaffold technology. As described in previous news items on 08/04/08 and 07/08/08, the RegeniTherix consortium is developing a novel wound device incorporating both a biodegradable tissue scaffold and a removable hydrogel layer to enable detailed and rapid evaluation of the wound.

See this article on TheBusinessDesk.com (registration required)

Link to the Centre for Biomolecular Sciences, University of Nottingham

Neotherix will be exhibiting at Venturefest Yorkshire 2009, a one day exhibition of Yorkshire's most inspiring science, technology and knowledge companies, on 11 February 2009 at York Racecourse. Neotherix will be part of the Innovation Showcase - an exhibition of up to 50 of Yorkshire's high growth-potential companies. For the sixth year running, Venturefest Yorkshire brings together entrepreneurs, support professionals and investors. More than 2000 delegates are expected to view over 150 exhibits, network and listen to a packed programme of speakers.

Registration for delegates is free, so please come and visit us on the day at our stand in Area 4 of the Innovation Showcase.

Link to Venturefest

Neotherix is to participate in a delegation of life science companies from Yorkshire and Humber to the investment community in New York and New Jersey. The Senior Level Investment Meeting (SLIM), aims to provide exposure of the strengths of innovative R&D companies and to facilitate investment in the UK companies from the life science sector in New Jersey and New York, private equity and venture capitalists.

SLIM is organised by SYBEN and the Transatlantic Business Council and takes place on 2-3 February. Mike Raxworthy will represent Neotherix.

Neotherix were one of ten companies invited to present at the Yorkshire Association of Business Angels (YABA) Investment Forum hosted by Science City York at Hazlewood Castle, Tadcaster on 8 July 2008. Mike Raxworthy's presentation highlighted Neotherix' novel scaffold technology and the opportunities to apply this to the repair of acute wounds following skin cancer excision, to provide simpler yet effective wound treatment. The presentation also covered the pipeline projects RegeniTherix (wound treatment and monitoring system) and PhotoTherix (antimicrobial therapy scaffold).

Link to YABA web site

The Technology Strategy Board (TSB) has announced the nine winners of the 2007 Cell Therapy funding competition. Neotherix is part of a consortium developing the RegeniTherix wound treatment and monitoring system, which has been awarded £570k of the £6.3m awarded overall. The project started in July 2008.

Other consortium partners are Complement Genomics Ltd, the National Physical Laboratory, and SensaPharm Ltd (previously Cord8 Ltd).

This item updates our previous news item announcing our successful application for this funding. More details on the RegeniTherix project will be available in the Neotherix press release, to be published shortly.

Links to full TSB press release , Complement Genomics Ltd , SensaPharm Ltd and National Physical Laboratory

Neotherix has been successful in its application for a Collaborative R&D grant from the Technology Strategy Board (TSB). The award is for the development of the "RegeniTherix" wound treatment and monitoring system. Neotherix will be the lead partner in a consortium with Complement Genomics Ltd, SensaPharm Ltd (previously Cord8 Ltd) and the National Physical Laboratory. Durham and Nottingham Universities are also involved as consultants and clinical work will be conducted at James Cook University Hospital in Middlesbrough. The overall project value is £1.14m with a likely project start date in September.

The proposed RegeniTherix system is a novel wound device incorporating both a biodegradable tissue scaffold and a removable hydrogel layer to enable detailed and rapid evaluation of the wound. The intimate association of migrating cells from the wound with both scaffold and gel will allow a rapid 'biological' profile of the wound to be determined from the cells involved in the repair process, rather than from exudate or other components subject to degradation. We will achieve this by rapid proteomic analysis of both diffusible factors and cells sampled from the gel via a point of care testing device incorporating a protein chip detecting novel, indicative protein signatures. Use of the system for sampling and analysis of markers of wound status will address a specific unmet clinical need, enabling more focused treatment decisions in the management of problem wounds.

Links to Complement Genomics Ltd , SensaPharm Ltd and National Physical Laboratory

Neotherix are part of a successful application for funding from the White Rose Health Innovation Partnership Proof of Concept fund.

The funded project aims to apply regenerative medicine approaches to oral surgical procedures using a new antimicrobial technique and a novel scaffold developed by Neotherix.

The project is a collaboration between Leeds Dental Institute (Oral Biology), University of Bradford (Institute of Pharmaceutical Innovation) and Neotherix. The collaborators have been awarded just under £30,000 to prove the concept. The project duration is 8 months from April 2008.

Links to Leeds Dental Institute and Institute of Pharmaceutical Innovation, University of Bradford

Neotherix were one of nine start-up technology companies selected to present at the 12^th Investment Forum run by Connect Yorkshire in Sheffield on 28 November 2007. Mike Raxworthy gave a presentation highlighting Neotherix' novel scaffold technology and the opportunities to apply this to the repair of acute wounds following skin cancer excision to provide simpler yet effective wound treatment. The presentation also covered other pipeline opportunities and product concepts identified in acute wound/surgical areas such as periodontology and aesthetic surgery.

Link to Connect Yorkshire Investment Forum page

A new company just launched in York aims to pioneer a new treatment to repair the painful and unsightly wounds left by surgery to remove skin cancers.

Neotherix, a spin-out business from the global medical technologies company Smith & Nephew, has been set up to develop bioresorbable scaffolds that will help surgical lesions to heal without the need for skin grafts. Smith & Nephew have a continuing equity interest in Neotherix.

There are currently 100,000 new cases of skin cancer in the UK every year and global numbers have been rising by around 5% per year since the 1960s. Most skin cancers are highly treatable with high survival rates but, if not treated, may invade surrounding skin and cause disfigurement.

The technology being pioneered by Neotherix was initially developed for chronic wound applications by scientists at the Smith & Nephew Research Centre in York as part of a project part-funded by the regional development agency, Yorkshire Forward.

Smith & Nephew's Advanced Wound Management Global Business Unit will continue to develop the technology for chronic wounds, but Neotherix will explore clinical applications outside of the company's core markets.

The new venture is being led by Dr Mike Raxworthy and Dr Peter Iddon, who have transferred from the Research Centre to become Chief Executive Officer and Development Manager of the new company.

Mike Raxworthy said: "Skin cancer is often found in areas of the body where surgery or scarring is particularly noticeable like the face, neck and arms. Current repairs often rely on simply stitching up the wound left behind or grafting skin from another part of the body, which means a second surgical procedure and a second wound."

"Our aim is to produce a scaffold that, when placed in the wound will actively help the tissue underneath to heal itself and be absorbed back into the body when its job is done. Although our initial efforts will be directed at the repair of skin cancer sites, we expect the technology to be suitable for use in a number of other surgical procedures."

He added: "The first six months will focus on evaluating the technology and adapting it for this clinical application. After that we will be seeking backing to commercialise the treatment and we hope to have the product on the market by 2010."