Dr. Anthony Atala, co-scientific founder, Tengion

EAST NORRITON, PA – Tengion, a company that creates working organs using a patient’s own cells, plans to raise $40 million in an initial public offering of stock. Tengion has a research laboratory and pilot facility in Winston Salem, NC, where co-scientific founder Dr. Anthony Atala heads the Wake Forest Institute for Regenerative Medicine.

Tengion plans to offer 4.4 million shares at $8 to $10 a share. It will trade on Nasdaq under the symbol TNGN.

The company’s patented integrated technology platform  was developed over the past two decades by scientists at Children’s Hospital Boston (a teaching affiliate of Harvard Medical School), MIT, and the Wake Forest Institute for Regenerative Medicine.

It harnesses the body’s ability to regenerate tissues and organs, and has the potential to allow adults and children with organ failure to have functioning organs created from their own tissues.

Founded in 2003, the company has no revenue.

company owns or licenses over 30 US patents and patent applications and over 100 international patents and filings related to its platform and nine product candidates.

It has a urological treatment in Phase II clinical trials.

We have always been impressed with the progress of regenerative medicine in recent years and Dr. Atala’s work is at the forefront.

Dr. Atala and his lab have created working human bladders on cell scaffolds, a unique sort of construction work. Part of his research is funded by the U.S. Armed Forces. Regenerative technology could be a boon to wounded soldiers. It sounds like science fiction, but one day they may even be able to regrow injured limbs and replace severely damaged organs.

Dr. Atala conducted research and practiced pediatric urology at Harvard’s Children’s Hospital Boston for 15 years, until 2003, when he became Director of the Wake Forest Institute for Regenerative Medicine in North Carolina. Dr. Atala’s numerous awards and honors include the Christopher Columbus Foundation Award, funded by the US Congress and bestowed on a living American whose discoveries will significantly benefit society; and the Scientific American, Research Leader Award, for his contributions to tissue and organ regeneration.

Tengion’s corporate headquarters and commercial manufacturing facility are in East Norriton, Pennsylvania. The company has research offices, a development laboratory and a pilot manufacturing facility in Winston Salem.

Related Stories:

• 3-day NC forum will look at heathcare innovation & personalized medicine
• Regnerative medicine firm Tengion raises $33M
• Wake Forest regenerative medicine institute goes global
• Wake Forest Baptist to co-lead $85M regenerative medicine project
• Piedmont Triad Wet Lab LaunchPad opens

© 2010, TechJournal. All rights reserved.

Tags: Dr. Anthony Atala, IPOs, regenertive medicine, Tengion, Wake Forest Unversity, Winston Salem