Tayside Flow Raises £1.2 Million

Tayside Flow Technologies Ltd., a UK-based developer of technology that reintroduces the human body’s natural bloodflow pattern, has raised £1.2 million in new VC and debt funding. Equity backers include Quayle Munro Holdings, Tom Farmer, Braveheart Investment Group and Scottish Enterprise. The debt came from Royal Bank of Scotland.

PRESS RELEASE

Tayside Flow Technologies Ltd (“TFT”) announces that it has completed a further funding round with investors comprising Quayle Munro Holdings plc, Sir Tom Farmer, Braveheart Investment Group plc and Scottish Enterprise. Company management and private investors also participated in the round, which totaled c£1.2m and includes debt facilities from RBS.

TFT received its first VC funding in 2001 as a spin out from Tayside University Hospitals NHS Trust. The Company specialises in technology that reintroduces the human body’s natural bloodflow pattern, known as Spiral Laminar Flow (SLF); SLF technology will be used in medical implants. By reintroducing natural blood flow, SLF can reduce bloodflow turbulence and disturbance in implants such as grafts and stents, thereby increasing patency and mitigating downstream disease progression. TFT has made significant progress in the past 12 months and will use the additional funding to further register and commercialise its novel peripheral bypass graft that has now been launched in several European markets.

The global market for TFT’s products is estimated to be around £11 billion. Cardiovascular diseases are the number one killer in the US and the UK. According to the American Heart Foundation over 60 million Americans have some form of cardiovascular disease. The graft market has seen little innovation in the past 20 years and the Company’s proprietary SLF technology has the potential to extend both the quality and lifespan of cardiovascular devices.

The Company’s lead product is a peripheral vascular graft (‘PVG graft’) that is used to bypass blocked or poorly functioning arteries. The PVG graft has been in successful clinical trials showing compelling evidence for the technology (18 month data was recently presented at a key US conference). The Company achieved a CE Mark in Europe in January 2008 and has launched the product in several European countries. Progress has been made in the United States with the submission of the 510k application to the Federal Drug Administration; the Company is expecting to license the product in the US in the first half of 2009. Further markets are expected and the company is in the process of completing development of its next product, an Access Graft (eg for Dialysis) for launch within 12-18 months.

Commenting on the successful fundraising and further progress for the company, David Lawrence, CEO of Tayside Flow Technologies, said; “We are pleased to have secured this funding and it underlines the progress that the company has made. We have secured investment from each of our larger investors as well as from Management along with debt facilities from RBS. This will enable us to complete registration and commercialisation of our lead products that incorporate our proprietary SLF technology. The market for such products is both large and growing and we believe our unique technology will benefit patients, surgeons and hospitals by increasing device, reducing surgery times compared to vein harvesting and avoiding amputations.”