Venture Investors leads $2M round for Tissue Regeneration Systems

Madison, Wis. - A medical device company spun out of the Universities of Wisconsin and Michigan has announced the close of a $2 million round of financing led by the Madison-based Venture Investors.

Tissue Regeneration Systems will use the initial round of venture capital to continue development of bioactive implants for bone and soft-tissue regeneration.

TRS has an exclusive option to commercialize its bio-resorbable scaffold and bioactive coating technology platforms, which will attempt to address needs in the massive $6 billion spine market.

According to investors, the company has successfully demonstrated in animal models the ability to produce spinal implants that grow strong bone material without leaving an artificial implant in the body.

This capability is expected to result in patients being able to return to normal function sooner, with better long-term outcomes.

For the time being, permanent metallic and polymer implants are the standard in spinal fusion or disc replacement. As hardware-based approaches, their primary role is to mechanically fix the tissue and mechanically replace vertebrae in the spine and fuse vertebrae together. Many of the implants are packed with a patient's own cells or materials that release a growth factor called bone morphogenetic protein, which stimulates bone or cartilage formation in and around the implants.

In contrast, TRS has developed implants the body will resorb and replace with natural tissue, explained TRS co-founder Bill Murphy, assistant professor of biomedical engineering and pharmacology at the UW-Madison. The TRS approach centers on porous biodegradable polymer implants that have controlled structural and mechanical properties, as well as integrated biologically active components to promote new tissue formation.

In conjunction with the funding round, Venture Investors announced that its managing director, Paul Weiss, will join TRS' Board of Directors.

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