Project description
Chronic wound therapy in a tube will soon promote healing safely, simply and effectively
Chronic wounds represent a significant socioeconomic burden impacting patients and healthcare systems. This burden is likely to increase given a growing proportion of elderly people and an increasing prevalence of lifestyle-related diseases such as cancer and diabetes. Improved treatments are desperately needed to avoid potentially devastating consequences. The Swiss company Stratpharma has developed a range of topical gel-based film-forming wound dressings that are also able to deliver drugs to the wound to promote healing. With EU funding of the StrataGRT project, the team is enhancing their proprietary formulation for application to chronic wounds. The project will enable product finalisation as well as scaling up of manufacturing processes and a comprehensive business plan to get it to patients quickly.
Objective
Skin is the largest organ in the human body, forming a protective physical barrier against the outside world. Damages to skin due to physical, chemical and biological factors lead to wounds. While minor wounds heal on their own, chronic wounds (wounds that do not heal within 8 weeks), such as diabetic foot ulcers, subject the patient to significant discomfort and distress while draining the medical system of an enormous amount of resources. Wound healing is a complex, highly regulated process, and complications affect the quality of life of >4 million a year in EU (more than cancer & diabetes) that struggle to live with hard-to-heal injuries, as it can lead to infection, tissue and bone necrosis, pain and in some severe cases even amputation. Stratpharma has developed a range of primary dressings formulated as a silicone-based gel, which can be used on any wounded, damaged, compromised or diseased skin surface. This proprietary film-forming gel is also shown to be an excellent drug delivery system, using which active compounds can be delivered to the wound, thereby enhancing clinical outcomes. Using this property, Stratpharma aims to develop a breakthrough formulation, containing gel and bioglass technology, for improved chronic wound healing. During the phase 1 project, a go-to-market strategy and a supply chain will be established, as well as further development plan will be drafted. Within the overall innovation project, Stratpharma will further test and validate the new formulation, begin clinical trials, implement IP strategy and perform scaling-up activities.
Fields of science
Programme(s)
Funding Scheme
SME-1 - SME instrument phase 1Coordinator
4051 BASEL
Switzerland
The organization defined itself as SME (small and medium-sized enterprise) at the time the Grant Agreement was signed.