Pembrokians Reach Finals of Prestigious MedTech Innovator Programme

Can old medical techniques develop modern medicine? Newrotex Ltd, a biotech firm founded by Pembroke SCR member and alumnus Dr Alex Woods (2009, Graduate Entry Medicine) and Senior Associate Professor Fritz Vollrath, has developed a medical device which uses silk from moths and spiders – historically used to treat wounds – to now solve the unmet needs in treating large gap nerve injuries. The firm describes its “mission” to “change the way patients with nerve injuries are treated” with its device (‘The Oxford Nerve Conduit’ and ‘Silk Axons’), through providing a more ethical, simple and reliable solution to current approaches in the field which can be harmful and unreliable.

While currently applicable to treatment for injuries caused through trauma or from cancer surgery, the product offers a future potential for treating spinal cord injuries and supporting drug development for the central nervous system.

Newrotex has recently been awarded a €2.5M grant to help bring the device through its human trials and to market approval. In addition, and testament to its innovative approach and growing successes, Newrotex has been selected as one of the top five finalists in this year’s prestigious US MedTech Innovator Accelerator programme, and will go on to compete for the Grand Prize at next week’s Advamed MedTech Conference in Anaheim, USA.

“We are absolutely thrilled to have been selected as a finalist for the MedTech Innovator program amongst so many high-quality and exciting start-ups,” Dr Woods told Pembroke. “It not only shows that people recognise the importance of our goal to improve care for patients with nerve injuries, but also that we are building a successful company that will be able to actually bring our technology to market and patients.”