Friday, November 2, 2012

Wellcome Trust and investors back £2.2million clinical development of new haemostat to control surgical bleeding


31st October 2012 - Haemostatix Ltd, a biopharmaceutical company, announced today that it has received an additional £1.4 million Translation Award from the Wellcome Trust to continue development of its innovative haemostat technology. The funding coincides with a further £800,000 investment from Albion Ventures, Catapult Venture Managers, Spark Ventures, Esperante, Nesta, the Lachesis Fund, The University of Leicester and private share-holders. The new funds will enable Haemostatix to progress its lead product, PeproStat, into clinical trials.

PeproStat is a new class of peptide-based haemostat that controls bleeding by binding to the blood protein, fibrinogen, to rapidly form a clot. Haemostats are used by surgeons to manage problematic bleeding and to reduce time in the operating theatre during surgery. Current haemostatic products may be limited by a slow onset of action as well as a lack of “ready-to-use” formulations. Additionally leading brands are based on an enzyme, thrombin, that is extracted from human donor blood. PeproStat has been designed to overcome these limitations, and the clinical trial will test the product’s safety and effectiveness in man.

Dr Ben Nichols, CEO of Haemostatix, commented: “There is a real need for rapid acting, ready-to-use haemostats that are safe and cost-effective, and we believe our technology can deliver these benefits to surgeons and their patients. This Award and the share-holder investment, will enable us to generate more data to support the translation process from research to patients.”

Dr Richard Seabrook, Head of Business Development at the Wellcome Trust, said: “Improved control of bleeding is vital for safe and effective surgical procedures. We are pleased to offer our continued support to this project and look forward to seeing the technology advance towards clinical use.”

Haemostatix is based at BioCity Nottingham in the City’s new Creative Quarter. The company was originally a spin-out from the University of Leicester, and continues to collaborate with the University on fundamental research to underpin its product development programme.













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