News
UCL Business concludes £multi-million sale of Stanmore Implants
Published on 30 September 2008
UCL Business has today announced the sale of Stanmore Implants Worldwide for around £10 million. The company, owned by UCL and managed through UCL Business is being sold to a syndicate led by Abingworth Management and MDY Healthcare plc.
Stanmore Implants Worldwide is an innovative orthopaedic business focused on saving and restoring the function of limbs and joints. It designs, manufactures and markets a custom implant service with a portfolio of orthopaedic implants for limb salvage and complex joint replacement, and is known for creating some of the world’s most successful implants, including the Stanmore Hip.
The Company was spun out from UCL’s Centre for Biomedical Engineering, based at its Institute of Orthopaedics, and has been actively managed through UCL Business over the last 12 months. It currently has annual sales in excess of £4 million.
The syndicate will invest a total of £12.5 million to acquire the Company and provide funds for future growth of both the core business and the clinical development of ITAP, its key new product.
Following the completion of the deal, Brian Steer will act as Executive Chairman of Stanmore Implants Worldwide. Brian has over 40 years experience and was most recently Chairman of Gyrus Group plc, which was acquired for £935 million by Olympus UK Acquisitions Limited in late 2007.
Brian Steer, Executive Chairman of Stanmore Implants Worldwide, said: “In my many years in the industry, I have seen few products as innovative as the ITAP implant. The ability to attach prosthetic devices directly to the skeleton of amputees is truly ground-breaking and has already benefited patients. I look forward to working with the team to roll out the existing business internationally while completing the clinical development and commercial launch of ITAP.”
Charles Spicer, CEO of MDY Healthcare, added: “Stanmore is a key strategic investment for MDY: a profitable company that has been an international centre of excellence in its field for nearly 60 years. With its world class range of marketed products and development projects, SIW has significant growth potential which should therefore generate a healthy return for MDY shareholders.”
Mr Cengiz Tarhan, Managing Director of UCL Business, added, “SIW is a great example of academia and technology transfer working together within an academic and NHS environment delivering benefits to society. The sale of SIW to MDY and Abingworth will accelerate the development of ITAP which will benefit both patients and the continuing academic research at UCL”.
Stanmore’s key new product in development is ITAP (Intraosseous Transcutaneous Amputation Prosthesis), an innovative device for directly attaching prostheses to the skeleton of amputees. It is being developed for a wide-range of applications including upper and lower limb, digits and craniofacial prostheses. ITAP builds on ground-breaking research undertaken by UCL with a design that, by mimicking successful skin-penetrating natural structures (such as deer antler) smoothly integrating with the skin. This provides an effective barrier against infection, which has previously limited the application of percutaneous implants to dental implants and craniofacial applications.
Surgeons working closely with the company have implanted a number of craniofacial ITAP devices over the last three years with encouraging clinical results. In late 2007, the first upper limb ITAP device was implanted in a 7/7 bomb victim. The patient is progressing well, and Stanmore plans to implant further upper and the first lower limb ITAP implants during this year.
About Stanmore Implants Worldwide
Stanmore Implants Worldwide is an innovative orthopaedic business focused on saving and restoring the function of limbs and joints. The Company designs, manufactures and markets a custom implant service with a portfolio of orthopaedic implants for limb salvage and complex joint replacement, and is known for creating some of the world’s most successful implants, including the Stanmore Hip. The company, based in a specialised facility at the world-renowned Royal National Orthopaedic Hospital in Stanmore, Middlesex, and in Lyon, France, is a market leader in the UK and has a rapidly expanding presence in export markets. It currently has a workforce of 42.
About the investment syndicate
The syndicate is co-led by MDY Healthcare and Abingworth and also includes Ivy Capital Partners, LLC (“Ivy Capital”). Abingworth is an investment firm dedicated to the life sciences sector investing across all stages of development from early-stage through to public companies. MDY Healthcare is a strategic investing company, quoted on AIM, specialising in the healthcare sector. Ivy Capital is a US private equity firm specialised in investing in companies operating in the musculoskeletal sector of the healthcare industry.
Further Information
For further information contact Dr. Anne Lane, Executive Director,
UCL Business PLC on 020 7679 9000, a.lane@uclb.com
