Miromatrix Medical, a biotech company whose long-term goal is to grow human organs using a patient's own cells, has spun off a portion of its business to create a new startup.
Miromatrix has transferred to Reprise Biomedical, the new business, two existing, FDA-cleared medical devices – Miromesh and Miroderm. Miromesh reinforces soft tissue and is used during plastic and reconstructive surgery, while Miroderm is used for managing wounds.
Combined, these two medical devices have netted the company around $1.75 million in 2018 and around $1.2 million the year prior.
Reprise is launching with around $12.5 million in private funding. The company could not be reached for comment to provide additional details on the funding,
The company is led by Carrie Powers, who previously served as senior vice president of marketing at Vascular Solutions, a Maple Grove-based medical device company that developed and launched over 100 new medical devices before it was sold to Teleflex in 2017 for $1 billion.
Miromatrix will continue its primary focus on the development of transplantable organs to address the organ shortage.
Miromatrix strips cells from pig organs, leaving behind a collagen scaffold. The company then "recellularizes" that scaffold with cells taken from a patient. The goal is to quickly create organs compatible with a patient's body so people don't have to wait for a donor organ to become available. The technology was first developed by researchers at the University of Minnesota.
Miromatrix previously told the Biz Journal that it could begin testing the organs in humans as early as the end of next year.
About a year ago, Miromatrix closed on a $15.7 million round of funding. To date, the company has raised a total of $47 million since launching. It has just over 30 employees at its office in Eden Prairie.
