ReNeuron relocates to Wales
pharmafile | July 22, 2013 | News story | Research and Development, Sales and Marketing | ReNeuron, Wales, stem cell, stroke
The Welsh government is to fork out a £7.8 million grant package to get English stem cell research company ReNeuron to relocate to Wales.
The Guildford-based firm will use the cash to establish a cell manufacturing and development facility in south Wales over the next two years, to smooth the way for its late-stage clinical products.
ReNeuron says it will ‘move its principal operations’there and is raising a further £25.3 million via the issue of placing shares to help fund its programmes through Phase II.
The total package “transforms the company’s prospects and helps position it as a global leader in stem cell development”, ReNeuron said.
“The Welsh grant package…enables us to take control over the manufacture of our stem cell therapy candidates as they get closer to market,” said chief executive Michael Hunt.
“We look forward to working with the Welsh government to become part of a larger advanced-therapy manufacturing initiative to be established in south Wales over the coming years,” he added.
The company’s lead candidate is its ReN001 stem cell therapy for patients who are disabled by the effects of a stroke.
ReNeuron is also developing treatments for critical limb ischaemia, a common side effect of diabetes, and for diseases of the retina which can cause blindness.
While creating medicines from stem cells is an exciting advance, it is largely unproven at present: Canadian authorities approved the world’s first stem cell drug, Oiris’ Prochymal, as recently as May last year.
The Wales deal “should allow us to take all of our therapeutic programmes through a Phase II proof-of-concept clinical study and to value inflection through commercial deals over the next three years”, Hunt concluded.
Life sciences is one of the Welsh government’s priority sectors because it believes it offers the potential to make a ‘significant’ contribution to the country’s economy.
“This is the second investment made by the Wales Life Sciences Investment Fund, a key component in our strategy to support the growth of the life sciences sector in Wales,” explained Edwina Hart, minister for economy, science and transport.
“Cardiff University has always been one of the leading centres in the UK for both stem cell and neuroscience research,” she concluded.
To cement the move, veteran Welsh life sciences entrepreneur Sir Chris Evans is to be appointed as a non-executive director of ReNeuron.
Adam Hill
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