• Funding will accelerate development of the GRACE implant to treat brain tumour patients with electric field therapy.
• The project will accelerate the collection of preclinical safety and efficacy data, providing preclinical proof of concept whilst forming part of regulatory submission for QV to enter the clinic.

4th February 2022, Cheshire, UK

QV Bioelectronics (“QV”) – a medical device start-up pioneering a first of its kind electric field therapy implant for the treatment of the most common and aggressive type of brain tumours, announces it has been awarded a £630,000 grant under the Innovate UK Biomedical Catalyst to advance the development of its innovative GRACE implant. The grant comes off the completion of a significantly oversubscribed seed round (£735k) in July 2021. A round which attracted support from Consilience Ventures, SOSV, the GM & Cheshire Life Sciences Fund, managed by Catapult Ventures, and several angel investors. This latest award takes the grant funding total awarded to QV Bioelectronics to £1M, which includes previous awards from Innovate UK SMART and the National Institute for Health Research.

QV Bioelectronics is led and co-founded by Dr Christopher Bullock (CEO), alongside Mr Richard Fu (co-founder and clinical director), an academic neurosurgeon. They are backed by an expert team of engineers and scientists who have been working closely with some of the UK’s leading neurosurgeons on the prototype design of the GRACE device.

QV Bioelectronics is determined to deliver longer and a better-quality life for brain tumour patients. It is hoped that GRACE will provide a paradigm shift in the treatment of glioblastoma (GBM), the most common form of primary brain cancer in adults that has amongst the worst outcomes of any type of cancer. Utilising advanced materials, the technology underpinning the GRACE device is designed to significantly extend patient life-expectancy without negatively affecting patient quality of life. GRACE is still at an early stage of development, and it will be several years before the technology is ready to enter clinical trials.

Commenting on the round, Dr Christopher Bullock (CEO) said: “This significant funding from Innovate UK will support preclinical studies of QV Bioelectronics’ GRACE device, enabling us to take several big strides forwards towards human clinical trials. The highly competitive nature of the grants, with rigorous technical assessment, de-risks follow on venture capital investment”.