Melgisorb® Ag Claims Receive FDA Clearance

     Mölnlycke Health Care (Norcross, Ga) recently received FDA clearance to support two new claims for Melgisorb® Ag, a highly absorbent, antimicrobial dressing. The dressing absorbs up to 45% more than leading silver hydrofiber dressings and the high fiber strength allows for removal in one piece. The dressing may be used under compression bandages and offers sustained release of silver for up to 14 days and is now indicated for use on partial-thickness burns. This is in addition to the management of moderate to heavily exuding partial-thickness wounds such as surgical wounds, trauma injuries, leg ulcers, pressure ulcers, diabetic ulcers, and graft/donor sites.

     Visit www.molnlycke.com for more information.

Clinician Reports Rapid Healing of Intractable Wounds After Using Medihoney®

     Derma Sciences (Princeton, NJ) recently announced that Jason R. Hanft, DPM, Director of Medical Education at Baptist Health South Florida, revealed details of a recently concluded 11-patient venous leg ulcer (VLU) case series involving the use of the company’s Medihoney® at the 22nd annual Symposium on Advanced Wound Care and Wound Healing Society Meeting (SAWC/WHS). The study was a confirmatory case series following a positive, 108-patient, randomized controlled study that was published in 2008 on a similar patient population—all of whom suffered from non-healing VLUs.

     In the recent case series, 11 patients were enrolled with VLUs that had not healed with other advanced wound care modalities including the gold standard multi-layered compression as well as silver antimicrobial dressings, hyperbaric oxygen therapy, and antibiotic therapy for at least 4 months’ duration. The study was designed to measure the percentage of wounds that healed in the standard timeframe of 12 weeks, but all 11 wounds healed within 6 weeks and more than half healed within 4 weeks.

     Visit www.dermasciences.com for more information.

Excellarate™ Indicates Promising New Formulation Enhancements

     Cardium Therapeutics (San Diego, Calif) and its subsidiary Tissue Repair Company (TRC) announced significant new formulation enhancements for its Excellarate™ product candidate that is designed to simplify and broaden the use of the product for diabetic ulcers. The enhancements will expand the potential applicability into a number of additional wound healing market opportunities, including pressure and venous stasis ulcers, as well as major surgical and serious trauma wounds.

     Excellarate is a collagen-based topical gel employing TRC’s Gene Activated Matrix™ (GAM) technology to stimulate a patient’s cells to produce a sustained micro-release of platelet-derived growth factor-β (PDGF-β) protein directly within the patient’s wound where it is needed. PDGF-β is believed to stimulate angiogenesis and granulation tissue formation through the recruitment and proliferation of cells such as monocytes, fibroblasts, and endothelial cells—all of which are critical for the effective stimulation of a variety of wound healing processes.

     On May 6, 2009, Cardium announced the completion of recruitment for the Phase 2b MATRIX clinical trial to evaluate the safety and efficacy of Excellarate for the treatment of nonhealing diabetic foot ulcers. The MATRIX Data and Safety Monitoring Board has reviewed safety data collected from study participants as of April 21, 2009 and reported that Excellarate appears to be both safe and well tolerated, with no serious adverse events attributable to the study product. Approximately 70% of the patients recruited in the MATRIX study have already completed their initial evaluation period with respect to key efficacy criteria, particularly the percentage of patients achieving complete wound closure, the rate of wound closure, and the reduction of wound size at various time points.

     Visit www.cardiumthx.com for more information.

Mölnlycke Launches New Web-based Service

     Mölnlycke Health Care (Gothenburg, Sweden) announced the launch of their new web-based Less-Pain™ Academy during the 19th annual Conference of the European Wound Management Association (EWMA), which took place in Helsinki, Finland May 20–22, 2009. The Less-Pain Academy is designed for healthcare practitioners who are actively involved in wound dressing changes. The new website (www.less-pain.com) provides access to the latest research, therapies, protocols, and best practices. The goal of the initiative is to aid professionals in improving the quality of life for their patients by raising the awareness of dressing related pain and presenting tools to achieve changes in practice. The EWMA has endorsed the initiative.

     The key element of the program will be a series of live seminars and web-based lectures lead by renowned specialists. The focus will be on essential aspects of pain awareness, management, and assessment, impact on quality of life, and wound healing, as well as practical tools to improve outcomes. The online lectures will be available as downloadable podcasts for further study.

     Contact info.less-pain@molnlycke.com or visit www.less-pain.com for more information.

EcaFlo® Gains Approval from the US Environmental Protection Agency

     Integrated Environmental Technologies Ltd (Little River, SC) and Benchmark Research & Technology (Houston, Tex) announced that the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has approved EcaFlo® Anolyte (trademarked Excelyte®) as a registered and effective biocide against methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA).

     This non-toxic oxidizing solution destroys MRSA, E coli, Salmonella, Hepatitis C, tubercle bacillus, and almost every other pathogen in a manner that prevents them from mutating, thereby preventing the development of new resistant microorganisms.

     The EPA approved EcaFlo Excelyte as a high-level disinfectant/biocide. Since gaining EPA registration, the biocide has quickly gained momentum and is fast becoming the microbiocide of choice for hospitals, universities, public school systems, medical and veterinary schools, and medical research labs.

     Visit www.ietecaflo.com for more information.

KCI and Carroll Hospital Group Inc Partner to Prevent Pressure Ulcers and Reduce Patient Falls

     Kinetic Concepts Inc (San Antonio, Tex) recently entered an exclusive partnership with Carroll Hospital Group Inc (London, Ontario, Canada), designed specifically to improve the overall safety of patients. The partnership combines Carroll Hospital’s newest medical-surgical bed, Spirit Select™, with KCI’s broad mattress replacement portfolio, which includes multiple products that provide superior skin management for pressure ulcers. This combination provides hospitals with the flexibility needed to safely manage, handle, transport patients, increase patient mobility, and above all—reduce “never events” such as hospital-acquired pressure ulcers and patient falls, since the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) stopped reimbursing treatments for these types of events in October 2008.

     Now KCI therapies, such as the AtmosAir™ 9000 system, designed with self-adjusting pressure technology can be combined with the flexible Spirit Select bed. Manufactured exclusively by Carroll Hospital Group Inc, the Spirit Select low-bed is the newest product offered by KCI’s Therapeutic Support Systems (TSS) divisions. Documented facility case studies have shown that AtmosAir® surfaces help prevent patients from developing pressure ulcers. AtmosAir surfaces are one product in KCI’s portfolio of therapeutic support systems designed to prevent Stage I and II pressure ulcers. These systems utilize a variety of technologies including air, foam, silicon beads, viscous fluids, plus GORE medical fabric for advanced management of the skin microclimate.

     Visit www.kci1.com for more information.

ConvaTec and Hemcon Announce Co-Promotion Agreement

     ConvaTec (Skillman, NJ) recently signed a co-promotion agreement with HemCon Medical Technologies Inc (Portland, Ore) to market ConvaTec advanced wound and critical care products to the US Armed Forces. Through the agreement, HemCon is granted sales and marketing rights to ConvaTec’s leading products—AQUACEL® and AQUACEL® Ag dressings for managing acute and chronic wounds and Flexi-Seal® Fecal Management System (FMS) for the management of fecal incontinence. The new agreement will provide the US Armed Forces with the support and products they need to enable safer, more stable recoveries.

     Visit www.convatec.com or www.hemcon.com for more information.