ReNeuron awarded £1.8m Innovate UK grant

UK-based stem cell therapy development company ReNeuron Group announced on Thursday that it had been awarded a £1.8m grant from Innovate UK, to further advance its “next generation” commercial cell therapy manufacturing capabilities.

The AIM-traded firm said the grant, entitled ‘Cell2Sell - commercial scale next generation platform for allogeneic stem cell production’, was awarded under Innovate UK's Cell & Gene Therapies Industrial Manufacture grant scheme, and would fund a collaborative programme of work to be undertaken by ReNeuron - as lead participant - and its collaborators on the grant, the Cell & Gene Therapy Catapult.

It said the grant would fund key process development activities relating to up-scaled commercial manufacture of ReNeuron's cell therapy candidates.

Those included the development of robust manufacturing processes utilising “next generation technology and techniques”, that would enable the production of ReNeuron's therapeutic candidates at a commercial scale.

“We are delighted to have won this prestigious and highly competitive grant from Innovate UK,” said ReNeuron’s Wales general manager Sharon Grimster.

“It enables us to further pursue and optimise our cell therapy manufacturing processes as our therapeutic programmes get closer to market.

“The grant award will also assist ReNeuron in the execution of its strategy to ultimately bring the manufacture of its cell therapy candidates in-house to meet demand following market approval.”