Locate Therapeutics Ltd (“Locate”), the regenerative medicine development company, has launched two new programs intended to improve the survival, localisation, and clinical effectiveness of cell therapies. Such therapies offer the promise of one day treating a number of presently incurable diseases such as diabetes, stroke and spinal cord injury.

The two new programs are partially enabled by Locate’s recent success in securing £220,000 from non-equity funding in the UK via Wellcome Trust and Innovate UK.

At present, the main barrier to cell therapy success is the inefficient clinical administration of these therapies to the patients. Current standard methods for presenting the cells, such as injecting them in simple aqueous liquids, results in the majority of the cells dying or migrating away from the site of action soon after injection. Locate’s new programs aim to redress this issue by creating purpose-built delivery vehicles that provide protective environments for the cells and solidify immediately upon injection.

Over 100 million patients in the US alone could benefit from cell-based therapies targeted at heart disease, diabetes, neurodegenerative diseases, musculoskeletal disorders, spinal cord injury, stroke, autoimmune diseases and trauma. The market is projected to increase from $1.1 billion in 2012 to  $16 billion by 2020, with an annual growth rate of 40% (Lee et al. Biomaterials Research 2014).

The first program, a collaboration with the School of Pharmacy at The University of Nottingham, follows the award of a grant from Innovate UK, the UK’s innovation agency. This will adapt the company’s TAOSTM technology (Targeted, Orchestrated Signaling Matrix) for use in administering therapeutic cells. TAOSTM uses injectable particles that assemble within the body into a porous matrix that protects and localises the cells and provides an environment in which they can flourish.

The second program, the recipient of a Pathfinder Award from the Wellcome Trust, will develop Locate’s RPMax (Reversible Porous Matrix) technology as a tool for both manufacturing and administering cell therapies. RPMax has thermoreversible setting properties to bypass the need for some of the damaging processing steps currently used to grow cells for clinical use. Its characteristics offer many advantages in repairing soft tissues, and in the easy retrieval of temporary cell therapy transplants.

Dr Robin Quirk, Chief Executive of Locate, commented: “Our TAOS and RPMax technologies are cutting-edge biomaterials with a wide range of clinical applications. As the commercial adoption of cell therapies continues to grow apace, extending their therapeutic benefit, there is a major unmet need in the way in which they are delivered to patient. Locate has a toolkit of injectable technologies that provide effective solutions to this problem which will be developed further by this non-equity funding”.


To find out more information about Locate Therapeutics, please click here

Latest Opportunities

Exporting Starts Here programme for West Midlands companies

West Midlands Combined Authority (WMCA), funded by the UK Shared Prosperity Fund (UKSPF), has commissioned…

NIHR i4i Connect funding call

The NIHR Invention for Innovation (i4i) programme is accepting outline applications to their latest researcher-led Connect funding…

Study brief: The effects of a recovery gel on endurance cycling performance in the heat

The popularity of endurance sports like cycling and running has grown significantly over the past…

Latest News

Blog: Why cleanrooms are essential for medical-grade cannabis companies

By Medilink Midlands Member Airology Systems The demand for medical-grade cannabis has surged in recent…

Australia’s Cannim partners with PHTA to advance medicinal cannabis research

Leading medicinal cannabis company Cannim has announced its UK operations will be based at Birmingham’s…

New sleep trial shows dramatic benefits for participants

Cambridge Sleep Sciences (CSS), a leading UK innovator in sleep technology, has announced groundbreaking results…