New UK Company Launched To Target Cardiovascular Disease

Eurogene Ltd is a newly-launched gene-therapy company that has been setup by Merlin Ventures Ltd, which helps develop innovation in biosciences (Marketletters passim), and Cruciform, an applied research institute at University College, London, UK.

Merlin has provided the seed finance for Eurogene, which is Merlin's third biotechnology launch. The partnership that formed Eurogene grew out of a European Commission-funded project led by Cruciform.

Eurogene's first product, a novel gene therapeutic for use in conjunction with cardiac, renal and peripheral vascular surgery, has been developed with the expertise of Cruciform and the AI Virtanen Institute of the University of Kuopio, Finland. The product may have an application in improving the outcome of coronary and peripheral artery bypass surgery, a procedure that more than 800,000 seriously-ill patients undergo annually in the USA and Europe.