Development of Angicyte, a new vasoreparative cell therapy for chronic non healing wounds (“Angicyte_BMC”)

VascVersa is developing a revolutionary new cell therapy for the treatment of chronic non-healing wounds, in particular diabetic foot ulcers (DFU) and leg ulcers. Despite immense medical research, current available treatments are inadequate and 39% of treated wounds still fail to heal, largely due to a lack of blood supply. Diabetic ulcers remain an enormous healthcare burden in the UK and globally. Almost half a million people in the UK are suffering these painful and difficult to heal wounds. This condition profoundly affects the quality of life of sufferers and limits their ability to work. If left untreated, the condition can lead to limb amputation and reduced life expectancy. As well as the socioeconomic costs, the financial burden for the NHS is enormous, over £1 billion each year. These issues are repeated worldwide and are getting worse as the number of people with diabetes increases -- the global diabetic population is estimated to reach 578 million by 2030\.

Vascular healing is defective in a diabetic patient with a non-healing wound or ulcer. VascVersa's product, Angicyte, is a cell therapy which will address this by promoting the formation of new blood vessels. Research by the company and at Queen's University Belfast has established that Angicyte can promote blood vessel repair. Angicyte cells are generated from donated umbilical cord blood. Under the right laboratory conditions, each cord blood donation can be rapidly expanded to provide enough cells to treat large numbers of patients.

In this 24-month project, VascVersa will work with some of the UK's leading research institutions specialising in cell therapy to prepare for its first clinical trial. As well as completing further pre-clinical research required by the regulatory authority, the MHRA, to prove the efficacy and safety of the product, the project will allow VascVersa to develop a robust, clinically compatible, more automated manufacturing process, which will be a major step towards large scale production of Angicyte for use in the clinic, all of which will support VascVersa, to achieve the objective of conducting its first clinical study in 2025\.