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Med-tech firm to launch bone substitute following £835k investment

05/08/10

Cwmbran-based spine and orthopaedic medical device company, Orthos Limited, has received a £835,000 boost to bring its mouldable βGel synthetic bone substitute to market.

The bone substitute, which can be moulded by hand, has been specifically formulated for treating spinal bone defects and minimises the infection risks associated with bone implant surgery.

Founded by Alan Rorke in 1998, the company relocated to Wales from Bristol recently and has secured a £500,000 equity investment from Finance Wales as well as £60,000 angel follow-on investment and £275,000 Welsh Assembly Government funding.

Orthos has a range of proprietary orthobiologic products focused on skeletal defect repair and spinal fusion on sale or in development. It will use this investment to support sales of its current products and to develop new orthobiologic products.

Orthos has also further strengthened its management team with the appointment of industry experts, Robert Welsh as Chief Executive and Professor Christina Doyle as a Non-Executive Director. Welsh was formerly MD of Corin Limited and Doyle, formerly of Stryker, is Chief Executive of Xeno Medical Ltd and an international authority on artificial bone, vertebroplasty and orthobiologics.

Commenting on the investment, Orthos’ Chairman and Corin Group Founder, Peter Gibson said: “Synthetic bone substitutes are increasingly being used surgically. Surgeons are keenly adopting new implant and surgical techniques, particularly in spinal surgery. Orthos’ product range already includes a number of products with regulatory approval and global revenues, such as our OsteoBoost bone marrow aspiration kit.

“Finance Wales’ investment comes at an exciting stage in Orthos’ development and will enable us to expand our range of products by accelerating the commercialisation of additional products. We’ve also strengthened our management team to underpin our company’s future development.”

Dr Richard Thompson, Early Stage Investment Manager at Finance Wales, said: “Orthos has a strong management team and has established relationships with a number of universities to develop its intellectual property. It also has a track record of identifying and developing innovative orthobiologic products, a number of which are already on sale. Finance Wales’ investment will enable the company to commercialise further innovative products and bring them to market as well as to target new markets.”

Ieuan Wyn Jones, Deputy First Minister and Minister for the Economy and Transport said: “I’m pleased that the Welsh Assembly Government has been able to support Orthos. Wales has become home to an increasing number of technologically advanced Med-tech companies like Orthos in recent years. These companies have the potential to make a real impact not only in the global medical market, but also on the economy of Wales.

“The Welsh Assembly Government under its economic renewal programme will continue to provide and encourage the right type of environment for these types of businesses to grow and prosper and I am delighted with the funding from the Assembly Government and Finance Wales.”

Orthos now plans to enter the rapidly growing vertebral compression fracture market with an estimated 700,000 fractures per year in the US and 850,000 per year in Europe. Vertebral compression fractures are commonly the result of osteoporosis and are increasingly prevalent and debilitating in an ageing population.

Legal advisors on the deal were Morgan Cole acting for Orthos and Hugh James acting for Finance Wales. Due diligence was carried out by The Quinn Partnership (management diligence), Xeno Medical (technical and commercial diligence) and IP Pragmatics (IP diligence).