Plasticell completes £1.32 million financing to advance therapeutic pr

Stevenage, UK, 04 November 2016

Plasticell, the biotechnology company specialising in cell and gene therapy research, announces the completion of a two-part equity financing round, raising a total of £1.32 million from its shareholders and new investors.
 
The investment will provide capital to progress the company’s therapeutic programmes, including the expansion of hematopoietic stem cells and in vitro manufacturing of blood products such as platelets, red blood cells and cancer immunotherapies.
 
Plasticell specialises in using massively parallel screening technologies to optimise high value cell therapies derived from stem cells. Its award-winning platform technology, CombiCult® can be applied to any cell culture process, including biopharmaceutical production, as well as cell and gene therapy manufacturing.
 
Plasticell’s lead therapeutic programme is in the expansion of hematopoietic stem cells derived from bone marrow and cord blood. Last year the company announced it received a grant of approximately £1.3 million from Innovate UK to develop GMP manufacturing for this therapy in collaboration with the University of Oxford and the Cell and Gene Therapy Catapult over three-years.
 
Dr Yen Choo, Executive Chairman of Plasticell, commented: “Together with non-dilutive financing from multiple government grants, this latest equity fundraising provides the capital required to progress our lead therapeutic programme towards the clinic.”