Tissue Regenix joins AIM, lead product due for European launch in H2-2010

Tissue Regenix Group (LON:TRX) joined London’s AIM market, after the IP Group (LON:IPO) portfolio company completed the reverse takeover of Oxeco PLC and raised £4.5m through a placing. The enlarged group intends to develop new medical products based on Tissue Regenix’s propriety dCELL Technology, starting with the delivery of the company’s lead product - the dCELL Vascular Patch.

Following the reverse takeover and placing, the enlarged group now has net funds of approximately £7.4m and an enlarged issued share capital on admission will be 466.7m shares.

"The successful completion of this listing in such testing market conditions underlines the strength of our technology and the size of the market opportunity,” Tissue Regenix chairman John Samuel commented. “We now have the capital required to use our dCELL platform to capitalise on the growing global demand for regenerative medical devices."
Tissue Regenix represents the IP Group’s fourteenth portfolio company to successfully list on either AIM or PLUS Markets, and it is the second IP Group portfolio company to achieve a listing this year, following Ilika PLC's (LON:IKA) flotation in May. IP Group is beneficially interested in 71.7m Tissue Regenix shares, worth £3.6m at the 5p placing price, representing 15.4% of the company’s enlarged issued share capital. The reversal will result in a fair value gain to IP Group of £1.4m.

Tissue Regenix, through its association with the university-commercialisation specialist, the IP Group, began as a spin-out from the University of Sheffield. The company is focused on the development and commercialisation of acellular tissue replacement products.

With its proprietary dCELL technology platform, Tissue Regenix removes cells and other components from human and animal tissue allowing them to be used without anti-rejection drugs to replace worn out or diseased body parts. The three priority markets for the application of the technology are cascular, cardiac and orthopaedics.

The lead product, the dCELL Vascular Patch, is designed to be implanted permanently into the human body for vascular repair. Tissue Regenix plans to start marketing the patch in Europe during the second half of 2010. The second product, the dCELL Meniscus, is also being developed to repair damaged knee meniscus. The company said that it will commit a significant proportion of the new funds towards the further development of the dCELL Meniscus and the securing of regulatory approval for marketing.