Amber Therapeutics

Amber Therapeutics is a medical technology company, spun out from the University of Oxford in 2021, developing bioelectrical therapies for functional disorders. The company was co-founded by CEO Aidan Crawley, Chief Engineer Tim Denison, Stefan De Wachter, and Charles Knowles. Crawley, an entrepreneur with a background in finance and tech, was an Entrepreneur in Residence at Oxford Science Enterprises and sought to tackle a significant, unaddressed medical problem. The founding team combines expertise in medical devices, clinical practice, and translational neuroengineering.

The company’s lead product, Amber-UI, is a fully implantable, adaptive neuromodulation therapy developed to treat mixed urinary incontinence (MUI) in women, a condition that includes both stress and urge incontinence. The therapy works by targeting the pudendal nerve, which is crucial for continence control, through a minimally invasive surgical procedure. Amber-UI utilizes a closed-loop system called Picostim-DyNeuMo, which can sense physiological signals and adjust electrical stimulation in real-time, effectively creating a 'synthetic reflex arc' to restore normal bladder function. This adaptive capability allows the therapy to be personalized to the patient and respond dynamically to different activities, such as coughing or lifting.

Amber Therapeutics operates by developing and commercializing these neuromodulation therapies, with an initial focus on gaining regulatory approval in the United States. The company's business strategy was accelerated by the acquisition of Bioinduction, the manufacturer of the Picostim-DyNeuMo platform, giving Amber full control over its technology's development and manufacturing. In June 2024, the company secured $100 million in a Series A financing round, one of Europe's largest for a medtech company. The round was led by New Enterprise Associates (NEA) and included F-Prime Capital, Lightstone Ventures, and Intuitive Ventures, alongside existing investors Oxford Science Enterprises and 8VC. These funds are allocated to advance the Amber-UI therapy through pilot and pivotal trials toward FDA approval.

Keywords: neuromodulation therapy, mixed urinary incontinence, implantable medical device, bioelectronic medicine, pudendal nerve stimulation, closed-loop therapy, medtech, functional disorders, adaptive neuromodulation, Picostim, Amber-UI, urinary incontinence treatment, pelvic health, bioelectrical therapy, peripheral nervous system, minimally invasive surgery, clinical trials, FDA approval, venture capital, Oxford spinout