€1m investment for Galway stem cell technology firm
Orbsen Therapeutics, a stem cell technology company based at NUIG, has raised almost €1m from Irish and US investors.
Founding directors include Timothy O’Brien, a professor and consultant endocrinologist at Galway University Hospital. Larry Couture is the firm’s chief executive.
Orbsen is currently working on a six million euro EU-funded project to evaluate the clinical safety and efficacy of a new cell therapy which helps to tackle diabetic kidney disease.
According to the Irish Independent, the research project hopes to show that cell therapy can be an effective treatment which could slow or even halt the disease.
Diabetic kidney disease is complication of diabetes mellitusmellitus. That’s normally treated with drugs and even transplants.
The research project hopes to show that cell therapy can be an effective treatment, and that it could slow or even halt the disease. Orbsen has also taken part in other research projects.
In 2014, it partnered with the University of Birmingham on a project to investigate the use of its technology in treating liver disease.
The same technology developed by Orbsen could also have applications in treating a number off other conditions, including cardiovascular disorders and joint disease. The latest publicly-available set of accounts for Orbsen show it had accumulated losses of €783,000 at the end of 2014. It made a €160,000 loss that year.
