The UCL Technology Fund (UCLTF) and UK Innovation & Science Seed Fund (UKI2S), with support from Innovate UK, have invested in cell therapy company Glialign — a spin out company from UCL.
Investment
Glialign is developing a novel cell therapy for peripheral nerve repair — for which current therapies are only successful in less than half of the cases and often can require grafting of a nerve from another part of the body. The novel treatment, developed by Dr James Phillips, UCL School of Pharmacy, and his team, is an allogenic cell therapy for the repair of peripheral nerve injury called Engineered Neural Tissue (EngNT). EngNT will provide a living nerve-growth guide that mimics nerve structure and has the potential to enable both neural regeneration and functional recovery.
“By controlling the natural ability of cells to organise themselves within soft materials we are able to generate living artificial tissues that can be used to support and guide nerve regeneration,” explained Phillips. “Glialign uses EngNT made with cells developed in collaboration with ReNeuron that are suitable as an off-the-shelf therapy for the immediate treatment of patients with nerve injuries. This overcomes the limitations of nerve grafting where healthy nerves need to be destroyed, and also reduces the delay and variability that would be associated with using a patient’s own stem cells.”
Glialign CEO, John Sinden commented: “A key translational milestone was achieved following the completion of a collaborative grant with ReNeuron and TAP Biosystems (now Sartorious Stedim Biotech), bringing together EngNT technology with clinically validated neural stem cells from ReNeuron and manufacturing technologies from TAP. Early validation of this technology combination has recently been published. The award of an Innovate UK Investment Accelerator grant will demonstrate the clinical potential of EngNT and its commercial viability.”
“Glialign’s technology addresses a major unmet patient need and may help patients with peripheral nerve damage recover,” added UKI2S investment director Oliver Sexton. “UKI2S’ investment and Innovate UK’s support allows Glialign to de-risk the technology, gathering data to support product approval and hastening its availability.”