Oxford Technology & Innovations EIS Fund (OTIF) and co-investors subscribe to Oxford University spinout company Orthox Ltd.’s £9.2m Series A funding round

Oxford Investment Consultants LLP (OIC) is pleased to announce that the Oxford Technology & Innovations EIS Fund (OTIF) and its co-investors have subscribed to the £9.2m Series A round of existing portfolio company Orthox Ltd.

Orthox is a clinical stage company developing medical implants to repair damaged knee articular cartilage and other orthopaedic injuries. Orthox’s FibroFix™ technology is a revolutionary tissue scaffold based on fibroin, a tissue regenerative protein extracted from silk fibres. The implants remove only the damaged tissue, employing bone-sparing, minimally invasive surgical techniques which enable rapid patient rehabilitation. By combining superb strength and low friction with tissue regeneration FibroFix™ offers the potential for better long-term outcomes, nurturing the body’s innate capacity to heal itself.

The funding round was led by Parkwalk Advisors, the UK’s most active investor in the university spinout sector, and joined by existing shareholder Perivoli Innovation. New investors included experienced life science fund managers, Additio Investment Group.

The financing will support further clinical trials of Orthox’s lead product, FibroFix™, at Southmead Hospital Bristol, UK and in Budapest, Hungary. The pivotal clinical trial is expected to open for recruitment later this year with a first cohort of six patients and six months follow up. This will demonstrate initial safety following which the trial will be expanded to 75 patients with two years of follow up. The Company has also submitted a regulatory dossier to the Hungarian medical device regulatory authority, OGYÉI, and is planning clinical trials sites in Budapest and additional leading European Hospitals.

Commenting on the financing, Nick Skaer, co-founder and CEO of Orthox said:

“This $12.5m Series A financing round from a range of high quality medtech investors reflects the strong progress we are making with our award winning FibroFix product platform. FibroFix is unique in emulating the functional properties of cartilage while also facilitating rapid tissue regeneration in patients suffering the debilitating effects of serious knee cartilage injuries. With our approach there is significant bone sparing and strong tissue integration of the implant, which will result in much faster patient recovery from surgery.”

Further information on OIC, OTIF and Orthox can be found at https://www.oxfordinvestmentconsultants.com/