How Renovite nanoclays open up new opportunities in regenerative medicine

nanoclay injected into spine

For anyone pioneering a new technology in regenerative medicine, it’s not long before you are asked what it is that sets your tech apart from the rapidly growing number of other competing technologies out there. It’s an important question because, like many areas of exciting opportunity, the research field of regenerative medicine has experienced explosive growth over the last couple of decades.

I think it is important to understand, however, what has driven this growth. Technological growth sometimes happens because new enabling innovations have come about which mean solutions that were, before, technically very challenging or even impossible, have suddenly become much more possible. Think of the tantalising medical possibilities of AI or CRISPR-Cas9 gene editing, for example. In this case an explosion of innovation occurs because something that was previously very hard has become (or, at least, appears to have become) considerably easier and more accessible.

Other times, almost the mirror image applies. Innovation happens because a compelling opportunity we originally thought to be within reach, turns out to be rather more elusive than we first imagined. In this situation, while the power of the idea continues to attract innovators and entrepreneurs, new technologies arise because earlier efforts at realising the potential opportunity fall short.

The innovative drive around regenerative medicine and biologics would seem to fall into this second category. The simple concept at the heart of regenerative medicine – that by activating the potential of stem cells we can regenerate diseased and damaged tissues – may have proven to be harder than we first thought, but the idea lives on and continues to inspire new concepts and technologies.

Renovite nanoclay provides, we believe, an elegantly simple and low-cost enabling technology with real potential to unlock the long-awaited promise of regenerative medicine.

The fundamental challenge facing regenerative medicine has always been the need to bridge the gap between the biological context of the stem cell and the clinical context of adult health care. As increasingly elaborate technologies have been developed to address the demands of biological complexity, the associated increase in cost, regulatory hurdles and technicality has meant that the gap between the stem cell and the clinic has seemed to grow rather than shrink as science has progressed.

Renovite nanoclay has unique potential to bridge this impasse in ways that other technologies have not been able to. The following features stand out:

  • Renovite is synthetic – The mineral formulation of Renovite allows for low-cost manufacture and sterile processing.
  • Renovite is biocompatible – Renovite gels can be degraded by cells and processed by the body.
  • Renovite is versatile – Renovite can be delivered as a gel, applied as a coating, complexed with polymers as a nanocomposite or combined with graft material as a carrier.
  • Renovite is injectable – Renovite spontaneously sets into a stiff gel by complexing with proteins in the blood allowing for minimally invasive outpatient interventions,
  • Renovite is bioactive – Renovite’ s unique gelation properties also serve the complex demands of biology by stabilising a protein-rich environment proven to foster cell invasion and remodelling.
  • Renovite enhances biologics – Renovite’s ability to bind biological molecules allows for dramatic enhancements in efficacy and safety profiles and opens up new applications for delivery of growth factors, drugs and antimicrobials.

 

nanoclay injection

Renovite nanoclay has the potential to make the complex simple and drive new innovations in regenerative medicine. Since pioneering nanoclay gels over a decade ago with our first publication on “Clay gels for the delivery of regenerative microenvironments”, there has been significant growth in the use of nanoclays in biomaterial design. In a 2013 progress report on the opportunities nanoclays present we uncovered only a small handful of studies exploring the use of clay in this context. This review has now itself been cited over 200 times as more research groups have begun working on nanoclay all over the world.

Renovite represents the first clinical grade nanoclay manufactured for biomedical application. These are exciting times for Renovos. By bringing nanoclay to the clinic we hope to see renewed growth in the regenerative medicine sector as new, previously unrealised, opportunities for harnessing the potential of stem cells in healthcare begin to open up.

If you are interested in supporting our vision, please get in touch. 

 

By Jonathan Dawson

Nanoclays and regenerative medicine: a journey towards the clinic

Renovite cells

What role could clay play in the biomedical field and why is Renovos Biologics focussing on this industrial-type material for cutting edge regenerative medicine technologies? It is an interesting question, after all, clays are mainly used for making things like paint or cosmetic formulations. And those applications seem far removed from the highly regulated world of medical products and devices.

Before shedding light on the surprising promise of nanoclay, let me tell you a bit of my background and my involvement in Renovos.

I am a materials scientist. I always envisioned myself diving into those fundamental questions that only research can approach. That vision for exploration and inquiry later evolved into the application of new biomedical materials to improve quality of life. As a basic materials scientist with an interest in biomedicine, I could not help but wonder how to get the best of both worlds.

And that is why I became involved with Renovos, where bringing my experience with cells and novel biomaterials to target tissue regeneration would have a translational value and make a difference to people’s lives.

At Renovos, we are developing a product portfolio based on a synthetic nanoclay gel platform, Renovite®. Renovite® gels can localise and retain biologics at ultra-low doses to promote tissue regeneration. We discovered that the physicochemical properties of nanoclays are extremely well-suited and sought for in biomaterials (you can learn more about it from our previous post by Allison and our technology site). Nanoclay particles spontaneously form a gel in the body that binds biological molecules and provides a scaffolding for cell growth. These exciting properties open up a wide range of regenerative medicine applications encompassing drug-delivery, stem-cell therapy, wound repair and infection control!

Renovite diagram

Let me explain the example of bone growth and repair. Now here come a couple of questions that I had before working with nanoclays:

1) Why is nanoclay a good candidate for tissue regeneration?

2) How does nanoclay offer an advantage when combined with biological molecules?

To answer the first question, the high affinity of nanoclay particles for proteins is key. When injected into the body, nanoclay particles form a gel network that binds proteins from the blood – a bit like in a blood clot. This protein-rich nanoclay network provides a matrix for cells to grow into and remodel into new tissue. Because Renovite® nanoclay is biocompatible, specialised cells can safely degrade the gel over time as new tissue forms.

This links quite well with the second question. Again, the advantage lies in the ability for nanoclays to bind proteins. Besides, the gels retain the biologics until they have degraded. Therefore, Renovite® nanoclay gels are able to safely localise potent biological molecules that stimulate bone formation. This reduces the side-effects of these molecules outside the gel whilst simultaneously enhancing their activity within the gel, allowing for ultra-low doses. It all implies that we can use Renovite® nanoclay gels in combination with these biologics to safely and reliably repair bone.

This is where my job comes in. I verify that our products are safe and effective by validating this technology in various assays and models. Have a look at Renovite® loaded with a biomolecule and ready for addition to cells in culture!

Renovite cells

Ultimately, we want to reach those who may benefit the most. For instance, patients suffering from musculoskeletal conditions or microbial infections in orthopaedics impairing tissue repair.

Although the journey to the clinic is not an easy ride, it is certainly an exciting one! And anything that serves to improve the treatment of health conditions sounds worthwhile to me!

Juan at Renovos

By Juan Aviles Milan

Chemistry? Clays? Isn’t this a biologics company?

lab in sunlight

I’m a chemist working on clay for a biologics company.

That may well sound like a juxtaposition. Add to that the fact that the biological application isn’t to do with creatures in the environment, but rather regenerative medicine, and you may well be raising an eyebrow or two. Let me explain…

Clay from the ground has been used for thousands of years for a variety of applications including pottery and topical skin treatments. Indeed, the Ancient Egyptians used clay as an antiseptic!

‘Clay’ refers to a huge group of largely silica-based materials, which are comprised of long chains sitting together to form layers. This confers highly attractive properties such as being highly ab- and adsorptive, having a low permeability, and being malleable when wet but solid when dry. This means that clays can be used in applications from drying pearls used within packaging, to carbon dioxide capture, but also many others in between.

Furthermore, clays have good cation exchange capability, which just means that parts of the clay can be substituted out and replaced by species such as drug molecules. (See an upcoming blog post by Juan for more information on this!)

However, clays from the ground also contain a mixture of minerals and metals depending on where exactly you have found the clay and this variable is far from ideal, especially when considering medicinal applications. Fortunately, it is possible to synthesise clay in a laboratory to control for such things and create a highly reproducible product with no batch-to-batch variability.

At Renovos, we have developed a synthetic clay, Renovite, which has nano-sized particles. This makes Renovite a nanoclay. If you’d like to read more about this, check out  https://www.renovos.co.uk/nanoclay-technologies/ and we’ll also come back to this in a future blog post, so stay tuned! At the top of this page there’s a photo of the laboratory set up, making some Renovite in the evening sunshine.

Renovite looks like fine sugar (no photo necessary as I am sure you all know what that looks like!) but when added to an aqueous solution, it forms a gel with some very interesting and useful properties.

The gel is as clear as water but also thixotropic, which basically means it is like ketchup – it can be piped into position and holds the form in which it was placed. This means that the gel can be injected into the desired site and relied upon to remain there, thus allowing localised drug treatment. The gel then gets gradually biodegraded and replaced with regenerated tissue.

Here’s a photo of the gel, I’m holding it upside down to demonstrate that it is acting like a solid:

Gel as a solid

And here’s a video demonstrating the thixotropic nature:

I joined Renovos having worked with clays for a couple of other applications but nothing quite like this.

I am excited by the application and believe Renovite creates an excellent scaffold for medical treatments in regenerative medicine. To me, the research and development motives for localised treatments are clear – improved patient safety and prognosis.

That’s why I joined Renovos. That’s how a chemist can be developing nanoclays for a biotech company and be very excited about it all!

Alison Shaw at Renovos lab

By Allison Shaw

Renovos wins Innovate UK SMART grant

renovite

We are excited to announce that we have launched another project funded by Innovate UK!

Renovos won funding via the highly competitive SMART competition run by Innovate UK, the UK’s innovation agency*. SMART grants fund ambitious or disruptive R&D innovations that can make a significant impact on the UK economy.We are delighted that our innovation has been recognised by the Innovate UK experts.

In collaboration with our partners from University of Southampton, the project “Renovite – pioneering use of synthetic nanoclays in regenerative medicine” will deliver further development of the Renovite nanoclay technology platform and accelerate its path to regulatory approval.

We are excited to start another Innovate UK-funded project and look forward to updating you all on our progress in the near future!

 

* Innovate UK drives productivity and economic growth by supporting businesses to develop and realise the potential of new ideas. We connect businesses to the partners, customers and investors that can help them turn ideas into commercially successful products and services and business growth. We fund business and research collaborations to accelerate innovation and drive business investment into R&D. Our support is available to businesses across all economic sectors, value chains and UK regions. Innovate UK is part of UK Research and Innovation. For more information visit www.innovateuk.ukri.org

Renovos Biologics has appointed Patrick O’Donnell as Advisor to the Board

Patrick O'Donnell

Patrick O’Donnell

Previously a General Manager and Executive Vice-President of North America for BoneSupport A.B.,  CEO at Proteothera, Inc, Histogenics Corporation, Prochon-BioTech, and in commercial roles of escalating management responsibility at Confluent Surgical Inc. and J & J DePuy-Spine, Patrick has a wealth of experience in the medical device, biologics, and biomaterials industries with technologies in the orthopedic, spine, neurosurgery, sports medicine, interventional radiology markets.

As an executive officer of biosurgery and medical device companies, he has created the strategy, built and led the commercial organizations, and raised capital (over $80M) to fund and execute the product development and clinical programs towards regulatory milestones.

With a passion for outstanding technologies in the orthobiologics space, Patrick will contribute to Renovos’ strategy for nanoclay commercialisation.

It is exciting for Renovos to welcome someone with such experience and enthusiasm for our Renovite nanoclay technology and we are looking forward to not only working with Patrick but also to the advances we can make with his support.

Three new nanoclay publications out this year!

Nature Communications magazine featuring Renovos

Key read for nanoclays in drug delivery – group’s new publication on nanoclay in Nature Communications! The paper, which can be found here, reports on the use of bisphosphonate interactions with nanoclay edges to make drug-loaded composites without compromising materials properties or drug loading, which has been a common trade-off to date.

The Biofabrication paper, which can be found here, presents the in vitro, ex vivo and in vivo investigation of bioprinted skeletal or mesenchymal cells encapsulated in a nanoclay-based bioink. This produces viable and functional three-dimensional constructs for clinically relevant skeletal tissue regeneration.

Complexities of bringing small scale stem cell and scaffold therapies to a clinically relevant model, with an example of an ovine condyle defect model, are described in the Biomaterials publication, which can be found here. The study reports on the enriched ovine skeletal stem cell population (Stro-4+) and its efficacy for bone formation using a novel biocompatible melt electro-written medical grade polycaprolactone scaffold.

Renovos and its Nanoclay technology reviewed by Orthoworld

Orthoworld magazine

Renovos and our advanced nanoclay biomaterial, Renovite®, has been featured in Orthoworld. The article, “Renovos to Develop Next-Gen Technology to “Tame” BMP-2 Diffusion”, outlines key issues that novel regenerative medicine technologies need to overcome, and how Renovos and our innovative nanoclays address these in order to provide easy to handle, safe, effective and low-cost solutions in regenerative medicine, biologics delivery and orthopaedics. You can learn more about the nanoclay technology here.

 

Renovos’ orthobiologic nanoclay technology platform, Renovite®, is based on years of academic research. If you are interested in learning more, please find our key research papers here.

 

To read the article here!

Renovos receives investment for nanoclay innovation from leading medical research charity Orthopaedic Research UK

ORUK

Renovos has recently been awarded one of the very first charity investments in the UK. In a progressive move to find new ways to support people living with painful and debilitating bone and joint conditions, Orthopaedic Research UK (ORUK), in partnership with healthtech experts HS., has announced a £140,000 investment from the recently launched Ronald Furlong Fund.

 

Renovos has now raised £700k in equity and grant funding to date to support the development of new nanoclay gel technology RenoviteⓇ, which has the potential to transform orthopaedic surgery. The gel allows a 100x lower dose of powerful regenerative therapeutic agent to be precisely delivered and localised to the sites where needed, and early trial data demonstrates that it contributes to improved bone healing. This consequently offers a step-change improvement in safety, efficacy and ease of use, as well as reduced adverse events and complications compared with current orthopaedic interventions.

 

Dr Arash Angadji, CEO of ORUK said:

“We are the first charity supporting start-ups with a focus on musculoskeletal health in the UK. The Ronald Furlong Fund initiative will play an important role in assisting entrepreneurs and innovators to quickly turn ideas into reality, with measurable benefits for the entire healthcare ecosystem.

 

Effective collaboration with HS. was instrumental in identifying Renovos and their exciting technology, and I am delighted to welcome them as ORUK’s first investment.”

 

Professor Richard OC Oreffo, Founder and CSO of Renovos said:

“We are delighted to receive support from ORUK, which will aid the development of our next-generation orthopaedic regenerative medicine solutions, harnessing nanoclay gels to deliver bone-forming agents safely and cost-effectively.

“The partnership will significantly enhance Renovos’ ability to further develop innovative technologies to support the ageing population as well as younger, active individuals.”

 

Bringing Renovos into the HS. portfolio, Founding Partner, Dr. James Somauroo said:

“It quickly became apparent that Renovos has the potential to fundamentally change the way extremely powerful and sometimes harmful drugs are given around bone. During the interview phase, we were impressed by the immense knowledge and expertise of the team and we’re now excited to join the journey and to use our networks to help take them to the next level.”

Renovos’ RenoviteⓇ is underpinned by decades of pre-clinical research at the University of Southampton and Professor Peter J.S. Smith, Director, Institute for Life Sciences, University of Southampton has praised the innovation for its potential to create positive impact for patients and health systems of the future.

If you would like to find out more about Renovos please contact: enquiries@renovos.co.uk

 

Or you could read the news in one of the following publications:

Innovation Challenge Finalist at RESI Boston

 

The Redefining Early Stage Investments (RESI) Conference took place on Wednesday 11th September 2019 in Boston.

The organisers at Life Science Nation (LSN) invite all global early-stage companies across Biotech, Medtech, Diagnostics & Digital Health to apply for the RESI Innovation Challenge and hand-select the 40 most innovative applicants to present their technologies in an exhibition-style format throughout the full-day conference.

As an Innovation Challenge Finalist, Renovos gained exposure to investors, potential partners and other innovators from across the world.

Read more (external link) >

Agnieszka Janeczeck