Emerging biotech company Stimuliver, co-founded
by the University of Edinburgh’s Professor David Hay, has announced financing
of £1.7m for its regenerative stem cell therapy to treat acute and chronic
liver diseases.
The Denmark-based spinout has received DKK 15m (£1.7m) from the BioInnovation Institute (BII) and Vaekstfonden, Denmark’s state investment fund.
Stimuliver is developing a treatment for liver diseases using liver tissue implants made from pluripotent stem cells – cells that can renew themselves – technology developed by tissue engineer Professor Hay, of the University’s Centre for Regenerative Medicine (CRM).
The company has developed proof-of-concept data which demonstrates that these implants can be administered under the skin, rather into the liver, which, in chronic liver disease patients, is a hostile environment for cell therapies. If successful, it could provide a treatment which avoids the long waiting times for a donor, reversing liver disease and preventing hospitalisations.
Professor Hay and CRM PhD researcher Dagmara Szkolnicka were supported in forming Stimuliver by Edinburgh Innovations, the University of Edinburgh’s commercialisation service.
Professor Hay said:
We are excited to be part of the BII Venture House programme and to have received co-investment from Vaekstfonden. This funding will be focussed on building out the company and preclinical testing, vital to the translation of the world-leading liver implant technologies engineered at the University of Edinburgh. ”
PICTURE: Stimuliver team, L-R research scientist Lydia Gonzalés, CEO and co-founder Professor David Hay, CSO and co-founder Dagmara Szkolnicka, COO Joakim Sørensen, research scientist Carlos Quintana.
The University of Edinburgh Centre for Regenerative Medicine
