KCI Boosts Research and Development Capabilities with Launch of Advanced Research and Technology Center

  Kinetic Concepts Inc ([KCI] San Antonio, TX) announced the creation of an Advanced Research and Technology (ART) center that will lead the company’s efforts to develop revolutionary new wound healing, regenerative medicine, and therapeutic support system technologies and treatments. KCI has an enviable history of developing products that offer differentiation and deliver great patient outcomes. The KCI ART will serve as an innovation center that investigates emerging medical therapies and technologies to fuel product development and commercialization. It will support the company’s mission of restoring patients to healthy lives while helping providers reduce their overall cost of care.

  The ART, made up of leading researchers and engineers, will focus on:
• Conducting applied research to develop new clinical applications that leverage KCI’s existing portfolio of proprietary technologies
• Combining elements of KCI’s current platform technologies to create new therapies that address unmet clinical needs
• Investigating emerging trends and medical technologies that show significant potential to advance the science of wound healing and tissue regeneration
• Developing collaborative relationships with leading universities around the world to identify future technologies of relevance to KCI’s mission.

  Specific priorities include developing more mobile and compact wound healing technologies for home care settings and identifying new clinical applications for the company’s regenerative medicine business beyond the repair of soft-tissue defects.
David J. McQuillan, PhD, has been appointed senior vice president, Advanced Research and Technology and will lead the center. McQuillan is a 10-year veteran of KCI and most recently served as the vice president of Research and Development for the company’s LifeCell business unit, where he led the development of innovative regenerative medicine products including the Strattice® Reconstructive Tissue Matrix.

Visit www.kci1.com for more information.

Convatec Supports Development of Guidelines for Appropriate Use of NPWT in Wound Healing
  ConvaTec (Skillman, NJ) recently announced that it has provided support for the development of guidelines for the appropriate use of negative pressure wound therapy (NPWT) in the spectrum of wound healing. Unique to these guidelines are recommendations for integrating NPWT into a comprehensive plan of care that includes moist wound healing dressings and other treatment modalities.

  In September 2009, an international panel of wound care experts from multiple disciplines convened to develop the guidelines document to provide healthcare professionals with an understanding of where NPWT fits into treatment paradigms for acute and chronic complex wounds, including surgical/traumatic wounds, pressure ulcers, and diabetic foot and leg ulcers. Included in the guidelines are criteria to initiate NPWT based on various wound types, pre-application management to optimize treatment outcomes, identification of appropriate candidates for NPWT, benchmark indicators for treatment response, and recommendations on when to transition between NPWT and moist wound healing dressings or another treatment modality.

  The goal of these guidelines is to encourage responsible wound management across the continuum of healthcare settings and spectrum of wound pathologies so that positive and cost-effective patient outcomes can be achieved.

Visit www.o-wm.com/supplements.com for more information.