DENTAL drilling and filling could be consigned to the medical history books after a Perth firm launched a crowdfunding campaign today.
King’s College London spin-out, Reminova, wants £1m from UK and US individuals to take its revolutionary tooth-rebuilding invention to market, and potentially transform global dental health.
It is believed to be the first time a company has run an equity crowdfunding campaign in the UK and US simultaneously. People can invest here.
Says a spokesperson: “Tooth decay affects seven billion people at some point in their lives. It costs the world hundreds of billions of dollars every year. Insurers spend $50 billion on tooth decay in the US alone.
“The company’s pain-free treatment reverses and repairs early-stage tooth decay.
“It uses electrical pulses to regrow natural tooth enamel. There is no need for fillings or injections – instead teeth are painlessly repaired.”
CEO, Dr Jeff Wright, said: “Tooth decay strikes vulnerable groups hard: children, the elderly, those living in developing countries.
“Anaesthetic injections and the dentist’s drill cause fear, stress and pain. And put people off going to the dentist for a check-up.
“We can reverse the decay and rebuild the enamel. So you never get those horrible fillings and never have to face an injection. Dental drilling becomes a thing of the past. With our treatment you can top-up your natural teeth enamel whenever you need, just as you’d service your car when it needs a bit of loving care.”
Reminova holds or is applying for 17 patents and has the exclusive intellectual property licence to commercialise its technology worldwide.
The company is developing a dental instrument and consumable treatment packs. The company estimates a market of 700,000 dentists across eight countries worldwide. The device will cost less than $10,000 while packs will sell at below $10.
Led by CEO Dr Jeff Wright and chair, Professor Nigel Pitts, its management team includes world leaders in tooth decay. There is no controlling shareholder group at Reminova or venture capital investment.
Reminova is raising money through UK-based equity crowdfunding specialist, ShareIn. Investors are being invited to buy shares in Reminova. Minimum investment levels have been set at £1,000 in the UK/EU and $5,000 in the US. Further details can be found here.
Wright added: “The beauty about equity crowdfunding is we get shareholders who, like us, want to take the fear, stress and pain out of trips to the dentist. As well as being motivated by the potential financial returns.
“With their help and investment, our tooth rebuilding treatment could be available to patients within three years.
“Together we can change the face of dentistry.”
The spokesperson added: “Frequent brushing, flossing, and regular dental check-ups help reduce tooth decay. But, despite 60 years of public health campaigns, levels of diseased teeth remain shockingly high.
“Many people don’t have regular check-ups (45 per cent in the UK). The fear, stress and pain of the dentist’s drill and anaesthetic injections is the major factor.
“Dentists fight tooth decay in two ways. By encouraging preventative actions like brushing with fluoride toothpaste. And resorting to the ‘drill and fill’ procedure. The same technology we were using 100 years ago.”
Wright added: “Patients want a painless solution that maintains and repairs their natural teeth. One which helps them keep their own teeth for life. We know that our technology can lead to the type of preventative dentistry that dentists passionately want to practice and support.”
Reminova’s crowdfunding ‘stretch target’ for the 60-day campaign is £1m. Its initial crowdfunding target is £500,000. This is how it would use the money:
* Expand its development team in Scotland.
* Develop a regulatory and clinical plan to bring caries (tooth decay) remineralisation (the process of building back natural tooth enamel) and teeth-whitening (another application of the technology) products to market.
* Engineer more advanced prototype Electrically Accelerated and Enhanced Remineralisation (EAER) instruments.
* Strengthen the company’s commercial operations and management team.
* Plan initial clinical studies.
* Explore strategic partnerships with companies that already supply dental products, with strong global sales and marketing skills. Partnering can speed up manufacturing, clinical trials, and provide an established sales channel for Reminova’s products to professional dentists.
NOTES FOR EDITORS
About Reminova
Based in Perth, Scotland, Reminova Ltd was established in 2014 to improve global dental health through innovative approaches to caries prevention, treatment and management.
About King’s College London
Reminova is a spin-out from King’s College London, one of the 20 top universities in the world in 2014/2015. Reminova is the first spin-out from its Dental Innovation and Translation Centre.
About ShareIn
Based in Edinburgh, ShareIn is a website that connects individual investors to companies which need equity funding. Uniquely, ShareIn enables innovative companies to ‘embed’ the crowdfunding platform in their own website and then individuals can buy shares in their company.
* Equity crowdfunding helps people with a great business idea to ask the general public for the funding they need to set up or expand. The unlisted company (a company that is not listed on a stock market) sets a target for the money it wants to raise, sets the terms of investment, and explains what it will use the money for.
People can then invest in the company’s future by buying shares. Crowdfunding greatly widens the pool of potential investors.
MEDIA ENQUIRIES
Call David Sawyer, director, Zude PR on +44 (0) 7770 886923 or email dave@zudepr.co.uk
High res Press images available via email. Contact dave@zudepr.co.uk
LONDON INTERVIEWS
When: Wednesday 22, Thursday 23 July.
Where: King’s College London, Dental Institute, Dental Innovation and Translation Centre, Guy’s Hospital, Tower Wing, London SE1 9RT.
Who: Reminova chair, Professor Nigel Pitts.
What: Interview with Professor Nigel Pitts. Dentists teaching ‘students’ in one of the foremost dental schools in the world. Dentist’s chair; drilling; the sort of scene you see every day in dental surgeries the length and breadth of the UK/US.
GLASGOW/EDINBURGH INTERVIEWS
Opportunities available Wednesday 22 and Thursday 23 in Glasgow, Edinburgh or Perth (Reminova headquarters) with Reminova chief executive, Jeff Wright.
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