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Investors back development of synthetic platelet substitute

23/04/2008

"Haemostatix is a dynamic young company driving forward an innovative product that promises to change lives. We are excited to follow our original funding and look forward to working with them as the business continues to develop."

Haemostatix Ltd, a drug development company based at Nottingham’s BioCity and originally a spin-out from Leicester University, announced today that it has received a further £1.24 million from its existing investors (Spark Ventures, Catapult and NESTA). Haemostatix also announced the appointment of a new chief executive and a new independent non-executive director. The investment will enable Haemostatix to progress development of HaemoPlaxTM, a synthetic platelet substitute designed to replace platelets currently obtained from blood donation. Donor platelets, given by transfusion, assist in blood clotting and are currently used to treat cancer and surgical patients at risk from severe bleeding.

Dr Jonathan Gee, investment director at Spark Ventures commented that HaemoPlaxTM had shown very promising results in preliminary pre-clinical trials and that the Company was on track to take HaemoPlaxTM into clinical trials.

The new chief executive is Dr Ben Nichols. Ben brings many years of experience in the commercialization and licensing of new technologies and products in the bio-pharma industry. He has held senior commercial and general management positions in the industry. Ben’s previous post was Business Development Director for Sheffield University spin-out, Plasso Technology Ltd, where he helped the company to realize a trade sale exit.

Sarah Middleton, former CEO and co-founder of Haemostatix will become chief technical officer. Sarah, who was one of the inventors of HaemoPlaxTM, has over 30 years experience in product development in the field of haemostatis.

The new independent non-executive director, Dr. Grahaem Brown, trained as a physician and specialist in Internal Medicine. He has held senior development positions in Glaxo, Novartis, Pharmacia and UCB/Celltech, covering twenty years experience of driving global drug development from discovery through development to product launch. During this time he has played a significant part in the development of some 20 new products.

Ben Nichols commented that “There is a real clinical need for a platelet substitute as donor platelets are expensive to produce, have a very short shelf life, and need to be screened to remove the risk of transmission of blood-borne viruses that cause Hepatitis and HIV. There is also a strong demand for new products from the pharmaceutical industry itself, with major players seeking to in-license new drugs to bolster their pipelines. In this respect the strategy at Haemostatix is clear: our role is to innovate and demonstrate proof of principle, then out-license to major pharmaceutical companies who will complete clinical development. It is a well proven, value-adding strategy,” he added.

NESTA CEO, Jonathan Kestenbaum, added: “Haemostatix is a dynamic young company driving forward an innovative product that promises to change lives. We are excited to follow our original funding and look forward to working with them as the business continues to develop.”

For further information please contact:

Jonathan Gee, SPARK Ventures

+44 (0)20 7851 7777

Annabel O’Connor (for SPARK Ventures)

+44 (0)20 7307 5339

Nicola Kane, NESTA

+44 (0)20 7438 2608

Jonathan Earl, Catapult Venture Managers

+44 (0)870 116 1600

Notes to editors:

About Haemostatix Ltd
A spin out from Leicester University, Haemostatix was founded in 2003 by Sarah Middleton (CTO) and Professor Alison Goodall (CSO), in conjunction with the University of Leicester, which played a crucial supporting role in the company’s early stages. At that time, Haemostatix received start-up funding of £250,000 from The Lachesis University Challenge Seed Fund and initial investment from NESTA.

About SPARK Ventures
SPARK Ventures is the leading quoted early-stage venture capital company in Europe. It manages over £240 million on behalf of major institutional investors, leading UK universities, and three quoted venture capital trusts.

SPARK invests in entrepreneurs to create dynamic businesses in the technology, media, telecoms and healthcare & life sciences sectors. As well as capital, it brings a wealth of experience of developing high growth companies from early stage through to IPO or trade sale, adding value to its investments through active support and strategic direction.

SPARK Ventures is the lead investor in Haemostatix.

About NESTA
NESTA is the National Endowment for Science, Technology & the Arts. We do this in three main ways: by working to build a more pervasive culture of innovation in this country; by providing innovators with access to early stage capital; and by driving forward research into innovation, with a view to influencing policy.

About Catapult Venture Managers Limited
Catapult Venture Managers Limited (Catapult) has £80m of funds under management and specialise in providing equity capital for businesses requiring between £200k and £2m. Catapult invests in all stages of the business lifecycle including early stage, development capital and MBO/MBIs. Catapult invests in most sectors, but has a particular interest in Healthcare, Medical Devices, Environmental and Support Services. Since 2002, Catapult has invested in over 50 companies, providing initial and further follow on requirements. Our experienced team of 9 Executives and 3 Non Executive Directors have over 100 years of VC experience between them.

About Lachesis
The Lachesis Fund was established with £3 million from the Government's University Challenge Seed Fund Scheme and with an additional £1 million from the Universities of De Montfort, Leicester, Loughborough, Nottingham and Nottingham Trent. The Fund fills the ‘seed-corn’ funding gap that exists for very early stage technologies in the higher education sector, enabling:

·          promising technologies to be commercialised and licensed
·          new businesses to be started
·          attraction of follow-on funding for new businesses
·          regeneration of a culture of entrepreneurship in the region
·          further development of best practice for technology transfer

The Fund has an unrestricted remit, seeking to identify and invest in those projects emerging from the five partner universities that hold the greatest potential for a return on investment. Its portfolio of investments has a strong bio-medical, engineering and materials focus, reflecting the expertise of the partner universities.