The Scotsman

Medtech spin-out raises £2.8m for ‘life-saving’ trials

● New tech has potential to address ‘huge’ death toll among dialysis patients

- @inviziusme­d By HANNAH BURLEY hannah.burley@jpimedia.co.uk

A University of Edinburgh spin-out has raised almost £2.8 million to prepare for clinical trials and commercial­isation of its “potentiall­y life-saving” technology.

Invizius, which has developed technology to help reduce the high death rate among patients using dialysis and other extra-corporeal treatments, secured the sevenfigur­e sum from a consortium led by asset manager Mercia.

The funding boost will support pre-clinical testing and manufactur­ing of the medtech’s product, and help it prepare to enter clinical trials. It plans to hold a further funding round within 18 months.

The spin-out believes its technology, which stems from research by co-founder and chief technology officer Andy Herbert, can reduce the “huge” death toll from cardiovasc­ular disease among longterm dialysis patients.

Cardiovasc­ular disease remains the leading cause of death for dialysis patients, with around half dying from cardiovasc­ularcompli­cations.

The body’s immune system naturally creates inflammati­on that damages the cardiovasc­ular system in response to a patient’s dialysis filter, which it views as a foreign object. Invizius’ H-guard product can be used as an anti-inflammato­ry to coat the filter surface and “hide” it, preventing an immune response.

The technology can also be used in conjunctio­n with devices such as heart and lung machines, stents and grafts or in organ and cell transplant­s.

Richard Boyd, co-founder and chief executive of Invizius, said: “Our goal is to bring much-needed improvemen­t to the lives of three million dialysis patients.

“This investment allows us to take a big step towards this, and we are delighted to have won the backing of a consortium of smart, well-funded investors.”

The funding round also included early-stage tech investor Downing Ventures, the university’s Old College Capital fund and the Scottish Investment Bank, the investment arm of the Scottish Government.

Invizius is supported by Edinburgh Innovation­s (EI), University of Edinburgh’s commercial­isation service, which has also helped to develop the partnershi­p between Mercia and the university, and manages Old College Capital.

EI chief executive George Baxter said the investment “reflects the great promise we’ve seen in Invizius from the initial identifica­tion of novel science”.

The medtech has received early-stage funding from Scottish Enterprise’s High-growth Spinout Programme, with the agency now following on with SIB investment.

SIB director Kerry Sharp said: “Invizius has built a reputation, both domestical­ly and internatio­nally, as one of the world’s most promising medtech companies in a very short space of time.

“The investment the company has attracted is testament to the momentum gained in developing its potentiall­y lifesaving technology.”

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