Left to right: Dr Finola Cliffe, COO, HookeBio, Dr Alison Liddy, CEO and co-founder, Relevium Medical, Dr Leo Quinlan, University of Galway and Dr Sahar Avazzadeh, operations lead, Relevium Medical. Image: Martina Regan.
Knee osteoarthritis is the fastest-growing cause of disability, due to the obesity epidemic and an ageing population.
University of Galway spin-out Relevium Medical has been awarded €4.6m to further develop its knee osteoarthritis treatment.
Relevium Medical secured the funding for the RestOAre project, which aims to develop therapies for debilitating chronic pain and disease progression of knee osteoarthritis.
The funding was awarded through the Disruptive Technologies Innovation Fund (DTIF), and is the first successful project under the latest DTIF funding call.
Knee osteoarthritis is incurable, complex and progressively worsens over time. It is the fastest-growing cause of disability due to an ageing population and the obesity epidemic. Galway said that knee osteoarthritis is often described as the world’s largest hidden disability, with 250m sufferers globally, a figure that has doubled in the past 50 years.
Founded in 2019, Relevium Medical spun out from Galway’s BioInnovate Ireland programme and currently employs nine people. Its co-founder and CEO Dr Alison Liddy was recently one of the runners up for the Enterprise Ireland High-Potential Start-Up Founder of the Year Award, which went to Heidi Davis, the co-founder and CEO of Peri.
Liddy said the company was “thrilled” to develop the project in partnership with University of Galway and HookeBio “to advance this innovative solution for knee osteoarthritis”.
“This collaboration represents a significant step forward in addressing a condition that impacts millions worldwide and underscores Relevium Medical’s commitment to building a robust R&D pipeline.”
Also working on the project are a research team led by Dr Leo Quinlan from Galway’s College of Medicine, Nursing and Health Sciences and Prof Olivier Thomas from Galway’s College of Science and Engineering. The research team has developed innovative pain model platforms and a drug screen programme, and analysed biomolecules derived from marine organisms that uniquely target the key receptors the team have identified in knee osteoarthritis.
Prof Martin O’Halloran, director of BioInnovate Ireland and co-founder of Relevium Medical, said that BioInnovate is delighted with the success of Relevium. “We are particularly proud of the fact that Relevium is a female-led company, and we hope Relevium’s achievement will encourage other ambitious women to join the BioInnovate programme.”
In 2022, Relevium Medical was awarded €2m from the European Innovation Council (EIC) to develop a triple-action injectable treatment for osteoarthritis.
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