Sirakoss acquisition | ONE

The acquisition underlines the commercial attractiveness of north east Scotland’s life sciences sector and continues the positive trend of investment in the company cluster.

Sirakoss was spun out of the University of Aberdeen in 2011 and was supported through financing from Epidarex Capital and the Scottish Investment Bank, the investment arm of Scottish Enterprise, together with grant funding from Innovate UK. Epidarex Capital led the 2014 Series A and subsequent financings of Sirakoss.

Sirakoss has successfully developed Osteo3 ZP Putty, a nanosynthetic bone graft substitute to facilitate bone repair, which recently received 510(k) marketing clearance from the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA). Sirakoss’ highly differentiated putty has been designed to provide surgeons with an innovative and easy-to-use product for filling voids during spine and trauma bone grafting procedures. The product complements OssDsign’s craniomaxillofacial portfolio and commercial activities in the US are expected to begin immediately.

Prof Iain Gibson, co-founder and Director of R&D at Sirakoss and Professor of Acellular Regenerative Medicine at the University of Aberdeen, said: “It is extremely exciting to see the next major step in the development of our technology, with OssDsign having the experience and infrastructure to take our FDA cleared technology to clinical roll-out to treat the people that we originally set out to help.

“This acquisition will mean more people can benefit from the Osteo3 technology and it is further evidence of the real world impact that academic research can yield.”

Commenting on the significance of the deal, Prof Stephen Logan, chair of the ONE Life Sciences sector board, said: “Sirakoss exemplifies the culture of collaborative innovation in the region and is one of many successful spinouts from the University of Aberdeen. There are strong synergies between the two companies and we look forward to OssDsign becoming part of the regional life sciences community in Aberdeen. The acquisition will support the full commercialisation of Sirakoss’s innovative bone graft technology, which will help clinicians and benefit patients around the world, while retaining the science and innovation capabilities of the founders in the city.

“This deal demonstrates the commercial potential of the region's life sciences strengths that include biologics and biotherapeutics, medtech and digital health and the dynamic companies, established and emerging, working in these fields.

“The strategic focus for industry and partners in the region is to continue to grow innovative companies like Sirakoss. The action and investment led by ONE support regional economic diversification, national health economy targets and the Scottish Government’s recently stated ambition for health technology to be a major focus for inward investment,” said Prof Logan.