Mogrify, a transformative cell therapy company based in Cambridge, has clinched $1.1 million additional funding to accelerate assessment of regenerative cartilage therapy.

Cartilage defects, osteoarthritis and other musculoskeletal conditions are among the first medical areas being addressed by Mogrify’s revolutionary technology.

SBRI Healthcare, the NHS England-funded initiative championed by the Academic Health Science Network, ploughed Phase 1 cash into Mogrify in April 2019 to start the ball rolling and has now followed through with the Phase II $1.1m. If the therapy is validated, Mogrify plans to enter clinical trials.

The Mogrify platform takes a systematic big-data approach to identify, from next-generation sequencing and gene-regulatory networks, the conversion factors needed to produce cells that exhibit safety, efficacy and scalable manufacturing profiles suitable for development as regenerative cell therapies. 

The funding from SBRI will be used to progress key cell conversions through pre-clinical safety and efficacy studies in vivo.

Dr Karin Schmitt, Mogrify’s chief business officer, said: “We select projects strategically based on both commercial and scientific considerations and are delighted with the progress of this collaboration with Dr Wael Kafienah’s laboratory at the University of Bristol. 

“The continued support for our lead musculoskeletal asset from SBRI Healthcare has not only allowed us to reach this phase but will enable us to carry the chondrocyte conversions through to the next stage.”

Pierre-Louis Joffrin, corporate development executive at Mogrify, added: “Osteoarthritis is the most common joint disorder and with current treatments focused only on addressing the symptoms there is a huge unmet medical need. 

“Through this additional funding from the NHS England initiative we will be able to take the project through the efficacy and safety studies necessary to see it make a difference to patients as we now start planning for the clinical stages of the development.”