London, UK, 15th May 2017 / Orthonika Limited, a spin-out from Imperial College London, is pleased to announce success in securing funding for development of its novel synthetic total knee meniscus replacement. The company has closed a second round of investment of £675,000 from a group of angel investors alongside a Biomedical Catalyst award and an Industrial Challenge award. The funding is being used to accelerate progress on biomechanical testing and carry out a pre-clinical pilot trial.
Dr Mario Alberto Accardi, Co-Founder and Chief Executive Officer, commented “We are delighted to have raised the funds to bring this revolutionary treatment for meniscus injury into a pre-clinical pilot trial. We are very grateful to our angel investors and Innovate UK for their support.”
Dominique Kleyn, Co-Founder and Chief Operating Officer, added “This investment demonstrates a strong endorsement of our progress in developing a novel solution for meniscus injury and allows us to cement our network of collaborators and suppliers.”
Orthonika brings design and development expertise to exploit a novel approach for the replacement of a damaged meniscus, restoring knee biomechanics and allowing patients to return to an active lifestyle. The goal is to advance the meniscus replacement into a product and obtain regulatory approval for its clinical application.
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For further information, contact:
Orthonika
Dr Mario Alberto Accardi
CEO and Co-Founder
E: ma.accardi@orthonika.com
Dominique Kleyn
COO and Co-Founder
E: d.kleyn@orthonika.com
Media Relations, Sciad Communications
Deborah Cockerill
Managing Partner
E: deborah@sciad.com
T: +44 (0)20 7470 8801
Notes to Editors
About Orthonika Limited:
Orthonika is a spin-out from Imperial College London founded in 2015, developing an anatomical total meniscus replacement for the knee joint. Orthonika’s revolutionary meniscus implant accurately mimics the natural structure of meniscal tissue replicating its ‘structure-function’ relationship. It is designed to restore knee biomechanics and allow patients to return to an active lifestyle, an option currently not available to patients with severe meniscus injury hence fulfilling a gap of high unmet clinical need. For further information visit www.orthonika.com.
About Innovate UK:
Innovate UK is the UK’s innovation agency. It works with people, companies and partner organisations to find and drive the science and technology innovations that will grow the UK economy. For further information visit www.innovateuk.gov.uk.
About meniscus injury:
Meniscus injury is the most frequent orthopaedic surgical intervention with meniscus-related operations accounting for up to 50% of all knee surgeries with an average of 1.7m total surgeries performed each year in the EU and U.S. Despite this prevalence, today’s standard of care for a severely damaged meniscus is partial or total meniscectomy (removal) with no total meniscus replacement currently available on the market. Removal of the meniscus is well understood to be a major risk factor for osteoarthritis (OA) a chronic and debilitating condition, with an estimated 50% of partial meniscectomy patients being diagnosed with OA as a result.