Commercial feasibility of engineered neural tissue

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Peripheral nerve injury is debilitating, causing loss of feeling and movement and in some cases long-term pain. Nerves can be repaired surgically to enable regeneration to occur, but often the injury results in a large gap which needs to be bridged. Currently the best way to repair large gaps is to use a nerve graft, which involves taking a healthy nerve section from elsewhere in the patient's body, which is limited in terms of the amount of tissue available and which causes additional loss of function at the donor site. Glialign is a new company set up to develop a solution to this problem. Our approach combines tissue engineering technology with therapeutic cells in order to build living replacement nerve tissue which mimics the structure and function of a natural nerve graft (Engineered Neural Tissue, EngNT). By using cells and materials that are safe to implant into any person without immune rejection, EngNT has the potential to be an 'off the shelf' product, immediately available for nerve repair whenever and wherever it is required. This project will evaluate the clinical and commercial feasibility of the technology through preclinical testing and development of a strong business case, leading to future regulatory and manufacturing development and clinical trials.