“The idea of our regenerative stent was born in the laboratories of TU/e,” says CEO Bart Sanders. “Thanks to the growing ecosystem of regenerative medicine developing in the region, there are resources and facilities to start new companies. We have taken advantage of that.”
Sanders too has encountered the obstacles that exist before you can bring a medical product to market. “Very strict controls are in place for that. We must demonstrate that the stent works well and that the chance of negative effects for the patient is minimal. The studies we need to conduct to prove this are very expensive. It's challenging to gather that money. Investors are hesitant because they see it as a big risk. The more developed and tested the product is, the smaller the risk becomes for investors. But to achieve that, we need investments.”
Fortunately, there is plenty of help from various sides. For example, as part of RegMedXB. Despite this, it is still difficult to raise sufficient funding at this stage, Sanders says. “A lot of money is simply needed to really bring the product to market. We receive support from the Dutch government. The university also supports us. We are allowed to use the laboratory with microscopes and such there. As a start-up, we couldn't immediately purchase all of that ourselves.”
Stentit is well on its way to the phase of clinical studies and the ultimate goal is clear: “We really want to change patients' lives. We started this company as two scientists with the question of how we, as researchers, can bring our idea to the patient.”