London, UK, January 9, 2009 – UK medical technology company BioCeramic Therapeutics Ltd is delighted to announce that Dr Stephan Rietiker has joined the company’s Board of Directors. Dr Rietiker is widely recognized as a leading authority in BioCeramic Therapeutics’ targeted sectors, particularly as former President and CEO of Centerpulse (formerly Sulzer Medical). His appointment follows the recent appointment of another renowned figure, Sir Richard Sykes, as Chairman of its Board of Directors and strengthens the company’s management as it embarks on a new fundraising round to take its products through clinical trials.
“Given my professional background as a healthcare executive and in particular at Centerpulse, my primary focus is on getting involved in companies with leading edge technologies. As R&D activities in the biomaterials’ arena are visibly gaining momentum, I’m delighted to be part of this fascinating venture. I fully believe in the technology and its future potential. Hence, I look forward to supporting the management team in efficiently reaching its strategic milestones and in creating significant value, both for patients and shareholders.”
BCT is a pioneer in the exciting new field of regenerative medicine, bringing together some of the world’s best materials scientists doctors, biologists and chemists in both private and public sectors. BCT is developing two families of implants designed to promote tissue regeneration. Initial applications are in orthopaedics and oral care, with plans to extend this to a wide range of other tissues important in human diseases.
Daniel Green, BCT’s CEO, said: “I am delighted to welcome Stephan to the team. His input will be invaluable as we look to move our first BCT pipeline products through to clinic. Currently we are both exploring several licencing opportunities and embarking on a new fundraising round.”
About BioCeramic Therapeutics Ltd
BioCeramic Therapeutics Ltd is a regenerative medicine company. Regenerative medicine’s goal is to promote the body’s natural tissue regeneration capabilities. We have proprietary biologically active materials that can be implanted or incorporated into other products. Initial markets are orthopedics and oral care, and our goal is to be able to regenerate many tissue types.
The underlying science is based on the work of Professor Molly Stevens, Research Director for Biomedical Material Sciences in the Institute for Biomedical Engineering and the Department of Materials at Imperial College, London and Prof Robert Hill and Dr Julian Jones, of the Department of Materials at Imperial College.
Based on their work, BCT is developing two generations of products. The first generation (BCT-000 series) is a series of modified bioactive glasses. The glasses incorporate carefully controlled amounts of strontium and other ingredients. Their role is to promote tissue growth, ensure resorption over time and inhibit pathogens. In addition, the right formulations enable their deployment as filler materials, bioactive coatings, or as flexible and tough rods and blocks with structural strength. These effects can be tailored to applications in each of our target markets to deliver decisive advantages over our competitors’ products.
The second generation is a series of materials (BCT-100 series) is structured on a nano-scale to mimic the extracellular matrix. This generation moves beyond the capabilities of bioactive ceramics to address vastly larger markets in soft tissue repair. This programme has been awarded substantial grant-aid whose goal is an in vivo proof of principle.
www.bioceramictherapeutics.com
