A YORK biotech company has received a £1.4m funding boost to develop a treatment for arthritis using engineered human cells.

Mesenbio, a University of York spin-out, has raised the money in an investment round co-led by DSW Ventures and NG Bio alongside grant funding from Innovate UK.

The treatment will initially target rheumatoid arthritis, an autoimmune disease that impacts nearly half a million adults and children in the UK alone.

Existing treatments can ease pain and inflammation, but Mesenbio’s therapies using stem cells can also reduce inflammation and regenerate damaged tissue.

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Mesenbio was founded by Prof Paul Genever and Dr David Kuntin and based on their work at the University of York’s Biomedical Research Institute. The funding means they can create three new roles, develop pilot manufacturing processes, carry out pre-clinical studies and prepare the regulatory dossier in readiness for clinical trials.

Prof Genever said: “We have been developing this method of treatment for a decade now, with support from Versus Arthritis, and it has proved successful in laboratory tests, but the funding will allow us to move toward human clinical trials.

“Our research has focused on extracellular vesicles or EVs, which are nano-sized structures released from cells that have therapeutic properties. We have been able to engineer these structures from human stem cells to target its anti-inflammatory and tissue-regeneration capabilities, which is what you need to treat arthritis - the ability not only to take away the pain but also to repair the damage.”

Dr David Kuntin, CEO of Mesenbio, said: “This method and its scalability makes it much more likely we can create a drug that can be administered via injection that can not only halt the damage to tissue, but repair tissue and return the immune system to homeostatic levels.

“We know this works in a laboratory setting and this new funding will allow us to get to human trials in a reasonable timescale, so that we can look to the future of what this new therapeutic might mean for clinicians and crucially patients of this debilitating condition.”Mesenbio, which is based at the university, becomes the twelfth company to join the DSW Ventures portfolio, and the first from its recently-launched Seed EIS fund.

Doug Quinn of DSW Ventures said: “This funding enables further progress towards a treatment for what is a debilitating condition for so many people.”

Jason Goldstein, co-founder at NG Bio, said: “Mesenbio’s technology is uniquely placed to address this problem and we look forward to supporting this talented team on the next step in their journey.”

Lucy Donaldson, Director for Research and Health Intelligence at the charity Versus Arthritis, which has funded Mesenbio’s research, said: “Versus Arthritis is the biggest investor in arthritis research in the UK, changing lives through research, campaigning and support. We are pleased to have supported Mesenbio to allow them to move into the next developmental stage for important and necessary arthritis treatment, and will continue to fund research that aims to develop - and provide access to - the treatment people with arthritis need, with real hope of a cure in future.”