The Edinburgh spinout has been backed by Mercia Fund Managers to support development of its kidney dialysis camouflage coating.

Invizius, a UK-based dialysis camouflage coating developer spun out from University of Edinburgh, has obtained £500,000 ($680,000) in capital from Mercia Fund Managers, a VC subsidiary of Mercia Technologies, Scottish Business News Network has reported. The deal represents Mercia’s first investment under a partnership with University of Edinburgh launched in November 2017. Invizius is developing an anti-inflammatory and anti-coagulant product called H-Guard that can be used to coat kidney dialysis filters before they are inserted into a patient’s blood. The coating is designed to protect dialysis patients from severe cardiovascular complications caused by their immune system rejecting the filter as a foreign body. It works by camouflaging the filter rather than disrupting the function of immune antibodies. In addition to kidney dialysis, Invizius plans to introduce products targeting devices and procedures including catheters, stents, organ transplants and vascular grafts. The spinout commercialises research led by Andy Herbert, previously a structural biologist and biophysicist at University of Edinburgh. Invizius previously secured an $815,000 grant from devolved government-owned economic development agency Scottish Enterprise’s High Growth Spin Out Programme. Nicola Broughton, head of universities at Mercia, said: “Invizius builds on the world-class research carried out at University of Edinburgh and is an excellent choice for our first investment under our partnership with the university. “This technology could revolutionise kidney dialysis and, with 3 million patients worldwide, has the potential to save countless lives.”

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