Medgenics

US-Israeli biopharmaceutical company Medgenics came to AIM in December with a £3.3m funding to develop its novel therapy platform to treat anaemia, hepatitis, diabetes and many others.

Its treatment, a micro-organ called a ‘biopump’, is a sliver of the patient’s tissue that has been cut from the body, filled with a specific gene that instructs the patient’s body to produce a specific protein when inserted back under the skin. A biopump can be created to produce any protein. Varying numbers of biopumps can be inserted to make the body create enough protein, or taken out if there's too much, creating a much sought-after level of control.

The global market for protein therapy presently stands at over £25bn and Medgenics believes its platform can address it more effectively than existing therapies, which involve regular injections and an inconsistent supply of the required proteins. Its initial focus is on the largest sub-market, the treatment of anaemia (worth around £6bn), moving into a 'Phase I/II' in-patient trial this summer. The money raised at float should take the company to the end of this trial.

Chief executive Andrew Pearlman says the trial will prove safety and efficacy in up to five months, ‘but we should see within just a few weeks’. If successful, it will transform the fundraising potential of the business, enabling it to advance the anaemia treatment to its 'Phase IIb', subsequent to another fundraising, with hopefully a big-money alliance with a big-pharma company.

Medgenics has a seriously heavyweight board. which includes gaming magnate Lord Steinberg as a non-executive director. The shares could be worth a gamble.

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