TISSUE Regenix, the York healthcare company, is to raise £25 million through a conditional share placing to fund its expansion.

The proceeds from the placing of 181,818,182 new Ordinary Shares of 0.5p each is intended to fund development of the company's products, including a vascular patch to repair badly damaged veins, and a porcine heart valve – tissues that can be transplanted into the human body and then is repopulated with the patient’s own cells and is adopted as a living part of their body.

The company said the funding would also enable it to move to new premises and create up to 30 new jobs in product development, quality assurance, regulatory affairs and manufacturing.

Managing director Antony Odell told The Press the company was looking at potential sites in York and Leeds to relocate to, and hoped to have identified a suitable site within six months.

"We have been looking for a while, because we have to look at the further expansion of the company and make sure any site suits us for the future," he said.

"It's an exciting time for us - it is very tough to raise money in this economic environment, so it says something about the strength of the company."

John Samuel, executive chairman, said: We are delighted to announce this material funding round which will transform our balance sheet and gives us the firepower to leverage our innovative technology platform. As well as allowing the company to develop a range of products simultaneously following the established medical device regulatory route, this commitment from both existing and new investors is a significant endorsement of the commercial potential of our broad product pipeline.

“We are also pleased to note that the planned expansion of key teams will potentially lead to the creation of up to 30 high quality medical technology jobs in Yorkshire. The directors continue to believe that our tissue products' ability to retain biomechanical and regenerative capabilities on implantation provides us with an attractive platform from which we aim to become a significant global player in regenerative medicine."

The placing is conditional on resolutions being passed at the company's general meeting.