University of Nottingham Regenerative Medicine Spin-off Gains Funding

University of Nottingham spin-off business Locate Therapeutics has secured investment from precious metal and technology business Heraeus Holding, the Nottingham Post reports.

Locate specializes in regenerative medicine and devices and has developed TAOS, an injectable material to help repair bones. TAOS—targeted, orchestrated signaling—was developed with grant funding and financial assistance from Wellcome Trust and the university. According to the company website, TAOS enables the precision focus of therapeutic signals from small molecule or biological actives at the site of tissue repair.

The investment by Heraeus forms part of a multi-million-pound funding package secured by Locate, including a grant of $2.4 million from the technology strategy board.

“We have been impressed by the scientifically robust way in which Locate has developed and validated TAOS, “ said Jan Rinnert of Heraeus Holding. “This is an exciting technology which will enable Heraeus to expand its regenerative medicine pipeline.”

“We are delighted to have secured an investment from a company that really understands the needs and opportunities that exist in the regenerative medicine field and which is investing for the long term,” said Ashley Cooper, chief executive of Locate. “This gives us great confidence that we will be able to fully exploit the therapeutic and commercial potential of TAOS.”

“Locate is focused on clinical problems in which regeneration of human tissue will displace biomaterial or drug therapies in the next decade With this investment and the continued support of Heraeus, we will be able to expedite the commercial development of the most promising and needed regenerative medicine applications of TAOS,” said Founder end Chief Scientific Officer of Locate Kevin Shakesheff, Ph.D., also a professor of advanced drug delivery and tissue engineering at the University of Nottingham.

Locate Therapeutics, formerly named Regentec Ltd., is headquartered in Nottingham, England.