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Orthogem Limited

Based in Nottingham, Orthogem Ltd is developing an innovative synthetic bone graft material for use in the large and growing global orthopaedic market for synthetic bone substitutes. In May 2003 Orthogem Ltd closed a funding round of £250,000 with a substantial part of the finance raised from business angel investors in The Oxfordshire Investment Opportunity Network (OION), Europe's most successful business angel network. Additional amounts were secured from a mix of investors including NESTA (the National Endowment for Science, Technology and the Arts), The Oxford Technology 2 Venture Capital Trust, as the lead investor, and private investors.

Bone is one of the most commonly transplanted materials, second only to blood transfusion. More than 450,000 bone transplants are performed each year in the US, and over 2.2 million worldwide. 90% of the current bone grafts use either bone harvested directly from the patient (autograft) or cadaver bone from a "bone bank" (allograft). But although both procedures deliver adequate clinical results they are risky, expensive and rely on severely limited resources.

Dr Wei Jen Lo, Founder and Managing Director of Orthogem, said:

"At the heart of Orthogem's technology is an understanding of the complex, multilayered porous structure of bone. Conventional ceramic manufacturing processes have been unable to replicate such a complex porous structure - until now. Recent trials at UCL's Centre for Biomedical Engineering (based at the Royal National Orthopaedic Hospital) have shown that Orthogem's synthetic implants result in rapid new bone growth that is of unprecedented high quality, organised and well vascularised. The results also indicated that the materials could be osteoinductive eg able to transform connective tissue cell into osteoprogenitor cells. Such promising data indicates that Orthogem's materials have the potential to replace the current autograft and allograft in many orthopaedic applications. Looking to the future, the material has been designed with the ability to carry engineered drugs such as BMPs (Bone Morphogenic Proteins), allowing the controlled release of these molecules into the site of interest."

Dr Lo praised the role played by The Oxfordshire Investment Opportunity Network (OION) in raising vital finance:

"OION could not have been more helpful. The Network arranged an informal, dry-run presentation in front of a Finance Panel experienced in these kinds of investments. The Panel gave us lots of useful feedback so that we could improve our proposal before we presented it to the main investment meeting. The funding we have raised through OION and the other investors will enable Orthogem to continue development, seek a commercial licensing partner and fully test the material in a series of clinical trials."

Alastair Cavanagh, Manager of OION, said:

"Orthogem is to be congratulated on raising a substantial sum in excess of that originally sought. The Oxfordshire Investment Opportunity Network (OION) supports innovative companies like Orthogem by offering them access to our business angel members who can provide management expertise as well as vital development capital. In Orthogem's case, the initial investment raised through OION attracted additional investors to back a high growth potential company with a promising technology, which is already well on the way to becoming a marketable product. We are particularly pleased that NESTA, which is a member of OION, is investing alongside our other members."