Magnus Life Science has just secured £15.5 million in seed funding to advance its therapeutic programmes – a host of devices and treatments based around an understanding of blood flow. MPN caught up with David Campbell, CEO of the group, to discuss one innovation in particular — a new bio-degradable, bio-magnetic stent.
David explained: “The core Magnus Flow stent technology is a based around novel, patent-protected metal alloy with a standard polymer coating. In the coating are novel particles that confer a magnetic property to the stent allowing for the targeting of stem cells to the site of insertion with the aim of improving safety and efficacy of treatment.
“Stem cells can be magnetised either by including a paramagnetic particle directly into the stem cells or by using pre-existing proprietary technologies using magnetic antibodies. Magnetic antibodies have already been approved for clinical use in other indications."
Beyond the £15.5m committed seed-funding, two of Magnus' programmes are further supported with European Commission Framework 7 (FP7) grants totalling €11.5 million.
As the trials evolve with the help of the backing, David and his team are already reporting positive results from the research.
“We have shown in as yet unpublished pre-clinical work that treated stem cells accumulate in significant quantities at the site of magnetic stents implanted into pre-clinical models” he said.