11 January 2024

Mesenbio raises £1.4m to advance arthritis therapies towards clinical trials.

The funding round was co-led by DSW Ventures and NG Bio alongside a grant from Innovate UK.

£1.4M

Share allotment filed at Companies House

Mesenbio is a University of York spin-out developing engineered stem-cell treatments for inflammatory conditions.

Mesenbio has secured £1.4m in an investment round co-led by DSW Ventures and NG Bio, with additional grant support from Innovate UK. The University of York spin-out will direct the capital towards pilot manufacturing, pre-clinical studies, regulatory preparation, and team expansion.

Based on research from the University's Biomedical Research Institute, the company is developing injectable therapies derived from engineered human stem cells to target rheumatoid arthritis. The funding marks the twelfth addition to the DSW Ventures portfolio and the first deployment from its Seed EIS fund.

From the founder

"We have been developing this method of treatment for a decade now, with support from Versus Arthritis, and it has proved successful in laboratory tests, but the funding will allow us to move toward human clinical trials."

Paul Genever

Professor at Mesenbio

Investor perspective

"Extracellular vesicles is an evolving technology and with the promising data generated by the team at Mesenbio, this funding enables further progress towards a treatment for what is a debilitating condition for so many people."