New Products and Industry News

New size dressings for cavity wounds

  ConvaTec’s (Skillman,NJ) new, narrower Aquacel® and Aquacel® Ag Ribbon Dressings with strengthening fibers are now available in the US and select European countries. Intended for the management of moderate to highly exuding chronic and acute wounds, the new dressings are half the width of the currently available dressings and designed specifically for use in excised abscesses and smaller wounds that tunnel below the wound surface. Dressing performance is powered by the gelling action of Hydrofiber® Technology, proprietary to the company’s advanced dressings, which absorbs and locks in fluid, including harmful bacteria, making it ideal for managing excised abscesses, tunneling, and undermining wounds. In addition, the dressing’s ionic silver kills a broad range of pathogens in the dressing, including methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) and vancomycin-resistant Enterococci (VRE) as demonstrated in vitro. The dressings also help reduce pain in situ and on dressing removal. The dressings are an improvement over the older gauze-based dressings when it comes to patient comfort and managing infections.   For more information, visit www.convatec.com.

Cost-effective IV site dressing preserves skin integrity

  3M Health Care (St. Paul, MN) recently launched 3M™ Tegaderm™ I.V. Advanced Securement Dressing for patients. The dressings represent a comprehensive solution with transparent, breathable film, a stabilization border, and new comfort adhesive technology. The dressing is a US Food and Drug Adminstration (FDA) Class I stabilization device — ie, it utilizes an adhesive backing to keep the hub flat and securely anchored to the skin. Its force-shifting notch secures the entire dressing and reduces the risk of catheter dislodgement. The dressing includes two adhesives that allow for added securement and stabilization, while providing a sterile barrier to external contaminants including liquids, bacteria, and viruses, common causes of healthcare-associated infections. For hospitals looking for ways to reduce costs, the longer-lasting dressing may save nearly 85% when compared to other products. Clinicians perceive the new dressing to reduce catheter manipulation and resist staining, which could lead to less frequent dressing changes. Clinicians also indicated they wanted a dressing that secures and stabilizes while preserving skin integrity. Using proven 3M adhesive technology, the new securement dressing combines strength and gentleness to offer an alternative to currently available securement technology. Through the addition of the dressing to 3M’s portfolio of skin and wound solutions, the company will continue to bring clinicians simple, trusted and clinically effective products.

  For more information, visit www.3m.com.

Reimbursement codes awarded

  All five products in the Xtrasorb® HCS Dressings line from Derma Sciences Inc (Princeton, NJ) have received HCPCS codes. These codes (A6234 through A6238), awarded by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS), will allow healthcare providers to bill for the dressings effective immediately. The dressings make use of a patented super absorbent polymer hydrocolloidal suspension within a hydrogel matrix and can provide moisture when the wound is dry and absorb moisture when the wound is exuding. These wound dressings have distinct advantages over traditional first-line dressings — they have the ability to hold more fluid and lock fluid inside the dressing, helping decrease maceration risk and keep the harmful wound fluid contents away from the wound and periwound skin.

  Reimbursement codes now cover the entire Xtrasorb product line, which includes Xtrasorb Foam for the treatment of moderate to heavily exuding wounds and Xtrasorb Classic, for heavily and extra heavily exuding wounds.

  For more information, visit www.dermasciences.com.

Licensing agreement reached for wound spray and gel distribution

  Advanced Bio-Technologies Inc (Suwannee, GA) recently obtained licensing for Sinclair Pharma’s (UK) spray wound dressings and silicone gel. The products, already marketed under the brand name Kelo-Cote® in four European countries, will be introduced in Italy, Spain, and France in early 2011 under the same brand name. Kelo-Cote is the only patented, transparent silicone gel that cross-links on application to form a silicone gel sheet for the treatment and prevention of abnormal scars. The gel improves the appearance of scars and prevents abnormal or excessive scar formation. The licensing deal gives Sinclair an option to manufacture the gel directly in the future and provides access to the underlying patented silicone technology to develop new scar and wound products that combine the gel with Sinclair delivery technologies.

  For more information, visit www.advancedbiotech.com or www.sinclairpharma.com.

Wound care companies enter new business endeavor

  ECI Biotech (Worcester MA) entered into an agreement with Systagenix Wound Management Inc (Quincy, MA), a subsidiary of Johnson & Johnson, to spur the development of diagnostic sensors to help diagnose and treat chronic wounds. The goal is to make detecting the underlying causes of chronic wounds faster and easier than traditional lab cultures, which can take 2 to 3 days. EBI Biotech’s aims to improve care and reduce unnecessary costs and therapies. This transaction is anticipated to facilitate ECI opening a new manufacturing facility in Worcester and to create 12 new jobs.

  For more information, visit www.ecibiotech.com or www.systagenix.com/usa.

Acquisition expands infection prevention product portfolio

  3M (St. Paul, MN) entered into a definitive agreement to acquire Arizant Inc (Eden Prairie, MN), a leading manufacturer of patient warming solutions designed to prevent hypothermia in surgical settings. Patient warming is a strategic adjacency for 3M’s business and integral to infection prevention. In addition to Arizant’s products and intellectual property portfolio, the company’s technology platforms expand 3M’s infection prevention offerings and will help drive growth internationally, as well as provide a platform of innovative wound care technologies.

  Arizant created the category of forced-air patient warming with the introduction of Bair Hugger® therapy in 1987. The company’s products help maintain normal body temperature (normothermia) in more than 20 million surgical patients annually as part of an effort to help prevent surgical site infections and other serious complications associated with surgical hypothermia. Numerous clinical studies demonstrate the effectiveness of these products to reduce the incident rates of hypothermia. The normothermia technology also has applications in wound healing, which will augment 3M’s technology base in this market. Other temperature management products include the Bair Paws® patient adjustable warming system, the world's first warming gown designed for perioperative use, and the Ranger® blood and fluid warming systems, a dry-heat blood and fluid warming.

  3M’s variety of products and systems for controlling the risk of infection includes applications for sterilization and monitoring, hand hygiene, perioperative preps, and surgical drapes. Arizant’s product development and commercialization capabilities will draw on the strength of 3M's global resources in healthcare and its deep technology expertise to provide solutions that help prevent perioperative hypothermia globally.

  For more information, visit www.3m.com.

Company adds VA facilities to clientele

  Wound Management Technologies Inc’s (Fort Worth, TX) subsidiary, Wound Care Innovations LLC, added Veterans Health Administration facilities in Temple, TX and Gainesville, FL as new customers of Cellerate RX® Activated Collagen™. The product was already in use in other VA facilities in Texas, Florida, Ohio, Colorado, Pennsylvania, Illinois, South Carolina, Wisconsin, and California. Physicians from Denver and Miami VA hospitals recently published case studies on the clinical effectiveness of the product that have supported the proliferation of the product line within the VA health system. In addition, Wound Care Innovations, LLC exhibited at the second annual Save A Limb, Save A Life conference in Orlando, FL, September 2-4, 2010. The Save A Limb, Save A Life Foundation’s goal is to reduce the number of lower extremity amputations and to improve the quality of life for citizens who are afflicted with wounds, complications of diabetes, and peripheral artery disease. The session, “The Role of Collagen in Wound Healing,” presented by OWM Review Board member Dr. Gary Rothenberg, Director of Resident Training, Attending Podiatrist, Miami VA Healthcare System, included information on the characteristics and benefits of Cellerate RX in the management of diabetic wounds.

   For more information, visit www.wmgtech.com

Wound healing gel deemed “one to watch”

  CoDa Therapeutics Inc (San Diego, CA), a biopharmaceutical company focused on the development and commercialization of therapeutics for wound care, tissue repair, and inflammation, announced its wound healing gel, Nexagon®, has been named one of Windhover Therapeutic Area Partnership's “Top Hot Space Projects to Watch.” This list, handpicked by Windhover and independent consultants, represents the top 10 product candidates available for partnering in ophthalmology, orphan diseases, women’s health, and other categories. The selection followed review of CoDa Therapeutics’ technology and positive results from its Phase 2 study of Nexagon in patients with chronic venous leg ulcers. In this randomized, vehicle-controlled, double-blind study, the gel was shown to be safe and tolerable and demonstrated a statistically significant five-fold improvement over vehicle in the endpoint of complete healing with just three doses of drug administered over 4 weeks. The gel also demonstrated a clinically meaningful improvement in wound surface area reduction for ulcer sizes representing the bulk of the market with a 71% reduction in wound size at 4 weeks.

  For more information, visit www.codatherapeutics.com.

Biotech wound management product launched in India

  Regenerative Medical Services Regrow (Gireesh Babu, Mumbai), a cell therapy service provider focusing on orthopaedic and wound healing segments, is planning to launch a bioderived atelocollagen suitable for reconstruction of human tissue in wound management, in collaboration with its strategy partner, the Korea-based Sewon Cellontech. Theraform™, a sterile, pliable, porous surgical wound dressing made of highly purified type I atelocollagen derived from porcine skin, is intended for management partial- and full-thickness wounds, various ulcers, surgical wounds, trauma wounds, and draining wounds.

  Currently, physicians are using nonabsorbable collagens for wound dressing and later resort to skin grafting in treating major wound healing. Theraform is a biocollagen, which is an absorbable atelocollagen implant for soft tissue regeneration agent. The company is conducting studies to integrate usage of its existing product Ossron, an autologous bone regeneration therapy, with atelocollagen as part of expanding its operations to the area of regenplasty. RMS’ partner, Sewon Cellontech, will manufacture the product, expected to launch the product in the coming months.

  For more information, visit www.rmsbio.com.