Technology developer and manufacturer Demcon has become technology partner and co-shareholder of ReGEN Biomedical: a company developing technology for growing biological tissues for regenerative medicine and pharmaceutical screening. This also gives a new impetus to an innovative tissue factory, Demcon reports in a press release.
Why you need to know this:
Regenerative medicine aims to prevent or cure diseases and other conditions by regenerating cells, tissues and entire organs. Regenerative medicine is about to make the step to large-scale clinical application with stem cell therapy and tissue technology. The Netherlands is capitalising on this with RegMed XB.
ReGEN is part of the RegMed XB pilot plant; the national infrastructure covering the entire chain of development and production of stem cells, mini-organs, tissues and smart (bio)materials. This pilot plant is being set up with funding from the National Growth Fund from the Dutch-Flemish public-private partnership RegMed XB. The arrival of Demcon gives an impetus to technology development and scale-up to industrial production of tissues. This brings closer applications in pharmaceutical research and the medical clinic and contributes to the realisation of the national pilot plant.
Pilot line for tissue manufacturing in Maastricht
ReGEN Biomedical is a spin-off from the research group of university professor Clemens van Blitterswijk. He is considered a founder of tissue engineering in Europe and an internationally leading researcher in the field of tissue repair. ReGEN Biomedical focuses on growing large quantities of functional microtissues as building blocks for clinical application in macrotissues and eventually organs. A production line for this was set up at the Brightlands Maastricht Health Campus last year, partly made possible by funding from the National Growth Fund. This line was officially commissioned in September.
Next step
The opening of the pilot line and Demcon’s participation herald the next phase for ReGEN Biomedical’s growth, says Dennis Schipper, CEO of Demcon. “It is now about continuing technology development, establishing and following a product roadmap and commercialising the products and production technology. For this, we from Demcon bring our broad experience in marketing medical technology and in particular developing bioreactor technology.
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