Renovo expands enterprise at UMIC

Thursday 25th October, 2007

One of Manchester University’s most successful spin out companies, Renovo Group plc (Renovo), is further expanding its operation in the city, with assistance from The University of Manchester Incubator Company (UMIC) and the North West Development Agency (NWDA).

World leader in scar prevention and reduction, Renovo, is to take a further 25,000 sq ft at UMIC’s Core Technology Facility (CTF) after out-growing its current facilities at UMIC’s Manchester Incubator. The company will also retain 4,100 sq ft of its current 8,500 sq ft within the Incubator building.

Renovo now has c170 employees and has experienced rapid growth since forming in 2000 thanks to major contract wins, including a deal worth more than £400m with drug making giant Shire for the ex-European rights to its anti-scarring treatment, Juvista. Under this deal Renovo retains the European commercialisation rights to Juvista and the CTF will form Renovo’s European headquarters.

The CTF is a four-storey facility that provides specialist accommodation for companies that are commercialising biotechnology. Renovo’s space is currently being refurbished to include fume cupboards and tissue culture cabinets and will be occupied by the New Year. The refit is being part-funded by NWDA.

Financial director at Renovo, Robin Cridland, said: “Renovo is now a fully fledged biotechnology company with a main market listing on the London Stock Exchange, so we are simply not an incubator company anymore. We looked at other options for facilitating our expansion but the University of Manchester is a world leader in intellectual property commercialistion and we have received valuable support from UMIC over the last seven years. It makes sense to stay in UMIC facilities.”

General manager of UMIC, Martino Picardo, said: “Renovo is one of UMIC’s shining examples of what a great company can achieve in partnership with effective incubation management and facilities. The extra 25,000 sq ft will allow the Renovo team to be more cohesive as it is all on one level. Renovo will most certainly benefit from the extensive facilities that now exist in the CTF.”

Linda Magee, head of Bionow, the NWDA’s biomedical cluster programme, said:  “Renovo is a beacon of achievement for the biotechnology sector for both the region and the UK. Renovo was the first recipient of Bionow’s AstraZeneca sponsored Company of Year Award five year’s ago and we are delighted that the company has become so successful in such a short space of time. The Agency is providing financial assistance for Renovo’s refurbishment that will generate more than 50 new jobs in the Core Technology Facility, another Agency enabled project. We are delighted to play our part in developing the infrastructure in the northwest region to both incubate and sustain companies of this calibre”.

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