A note from the Chair.

I was introduced to Ten Bio’s founders in November 2019. I was immediately engaged by two things: firstly, the logic in support of the business proposition. When researching skin and how it reacts to challenges and treatments, surely you want to use a medium as close to living skin as can be achieved. And secondly the founders’ sheer enthusiasm for their technology and the differences that it could, even should, make to skin research.

Animal skin is not a good surrogate for human skin and its use in cosmetic applications is now banned in many geographies for very good reasons. So what is the most logical alternative – to mimic as closely as possible the status of human skin on the human frame!

And so, through the melding of their expertise in skin biology, physics and engineering the founders have designed and developed their skin model TenSkin™.  The introduction of physiological tension across the surface of the full thickness human skin tissue is the key. The similarity in the results achieved in tests involving human volunteers and TenSkin™ is striking.

The strength of the product offering and the expertise in the Ten Bio team has ensured their success in several competitive schemes including Scottish EDGE, Converge Challenge, two Innovate awards and equity capital investment.  The availability of funds has allowed Ten Bio to set up and resource Ten Bio Technologies Inc. in North Carolina close by to collaborators at NC State University, securing with it a supply of ethically sourced human skin from a network of cosmetic surgery clinics in the area.

Our clients discover that the attributes of the TenSkin™ platform are compelling, in that it allows research teams to do extensive testing on an optimized platform over longer periods of time. Researchers are able to generate clinically relevant data to more accurately predict how their dermatology products will work in vivo. As Ten Bio’s client base expands, it has provided research teams with real insight as to the effectiveness of potential new therapeutics which in turn informs the design of the next phases of asset development.

These are incredibly exciting developments, and it’s just the start of Ten Bio’s journey…

For me, I am particularly looking forward to the company building on its early impact in the area of wound management. Ten Bio is conducting early work in this area for a major client. The performance of the TenSkin™ product to wounding is so close to the behavior of skin in vivo that it is the best approach to assessing the impact of new treatments to achieving more rapid healing and reduced scarring.

Ten Bio’s team will be attending the key dermatology and wound healing conferences in Europe and the US this year as the industry returns to the new normal. The evidence in support of TenSkin™ over all the alternative testing platforms is very strong and highly differentiating. We very much look forward to sharing the Ten Bio story and the supporting evidence with the attendees at those events.

March 2022