TOUCH Bionics, the pioneering Scottish company specialising in upper-limb prosthetic technologies, has appointed life sciences sector veteran John Brown as its chairman.
Mr Brown, who holds a raft of senior private and public sector roles, succeeds George Borthwick as chairman of the Livingston-based firm, which noted it had been the first company to develop an electrically-powered prosthetic hand with five independently-powered fingers.
Mr Borthwick is retiring from the board of directors at Touch Bionics, which had a major funding round last year.
Mr Brown is chairman of ProStrakan Group, CXR Biosciences, Mode Diagnostics, and the Cell Therapy Catapult. He is a non-executive director of Vectura Group, and was previously chairman of BTG, and Axis-Shield.
In the public sector, Mr Brown chairs the Roslin Foundation and the Easter Bush Development Board. He also co-chairs the Life Sciences Industry Advisory Board for the Scottish Government.
Touch Bionics, a spin-out from the National Health Service, was founded by inventor David Gow. It is funded by the Archangels Scottish business angel syndicate, and Scottish Enterprise.
Archangels noted last week that its biggest single funding deal in 2014 had been a £2.5 million investment last May in Touch Bionics, which is focused on achieving positive outcomes for people with upper-limb deficiencies.
As well electronic prosthetic hand and finger solutions, the products of Touch Bionics include passive silicone prostheses which match the natural appearance of the wearer closely.
Mr Brown said: "On behalf of Touch Bionics, I would like to thank George for all his excellent work as chairman. I am very pleased to be taking on this role and look forward to growing this exciting world-leading business."
The new chairman of Touch Bionics is also an adviser to several private equity and venture capital funds, a fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh and honorary professor at the University of Edinburgh.
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