Macclesfield-based skin health company SkinBioTherapeutics will focus on developing and commercialising its SkinBiotix technology platform after making an impressive debut on the London stock market, raising £4.5m.
The life sciences company raised the cash on the Alternative Investment Market (AIM) last week.
The funds raised will enable it to drive forward its development portfolio of three programmes – in skin care (sensitive skin), anti-infection and eczema.
Due to the size of the target markets, the company will seek to license out its programmes at an early stage to bigger companies with the specialism and resource to commercialise them.
Spun out of The University of Manchester by its Innovation Company UMI3 Ltd in April 2016, SkinBioTherapeutics was formed around the scientific discoveries coming from the work performed by University researchers Dr. Catherine O’Neill and Professor Andrew McBain.
SkinBioTherapeutics uses extracts of probiotic bacteria that have been shown to increase the skin’s barrier integrity to retain moisture better, protect the skin from infection and to increase the rate of skin healing in response to injury.
Chief executive Dr Catherine O’Neill, said: "Listing on AIM is a significant milestone for SkinBioTherapeutics and will give us the visibility we need amongst the established global players we are looking to partner with.
"The funds raised will enable us to accelerate the clinical development of our main therapeutic candidates and to progress the SkinBiotix® technology platform.
"This is an exciting time to be in the microbiome space, especially with regards to skin health. We have an experienced team and Board, plus the financial and shareholder support to maximise this opportunity.”
Dr Rich Ferrie of UMI3 said: "I am delighted that SkinBioTherapeutics has been admitted to AIM. Our team has worked closely with Cath and Andrew to prime the intellectual property arising from their exciting research for commercialisation.
"I am sure the SkinBiotix platform will give rise to many important products in the skin health area and I look forward to the future success of SkinBioTherapeutics.”
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