Revolutionary Spray-On Skin Is Better Than a Bandage for Wounds

AHA Publisher — Tue, 02 Mar 2021 08:00:10 +0000

Abigail Klein Leichman via Israel21c – Electrospinning may sound like something to do with disco music, workouts or pop art. Actually, it’s an electrostatically charged method to produce nanofibers for items such as layered filters. The Israeli startup Nanomedic is using this technology to revolutionize wound care. Nanomedic’s Spincare device – resembling a large staple gun – charges up a proprietary polymer from a disposable ampule and sprays it directly on the wound as a protective, flexible second skin. “Wherever the patient is, we can print our electrospun healing fiber matrix directly on the wound. That has a lot of advantages to enhance the healing process,” says Nanomedic CEO Chen Barak, who has a PhD in biomedical engineering and years of experience in electrospinning technology. “You apply it once so there is no dressing change needed. Patients can take regular showers after 24 to 48 hours. And when the skin underneath is healed, our layer peels off on its own,” Barak tells ISRAEL21c. No dressing changes and not touching the patient means less pain, especially for burn victims. The matrix is applied from about 20 centimeters (8 inches) away and adheres completely to any wound regardless of its shape or size. “This is very efficient even on faces, hands and moving parts of the body, and allows free movement unlike many kinds of dressings,” says Barak. The electrospun fiber used in Spincare bio-mimics the structure of skin tissue, thus accelerating healing and reducing scarring. Another big advantage is that healthcare professionals can assess the healing process without removing a bandage because the matrix becomes transparent after it is applied. Dr. Alexandra Schulz, a plastic surgeon in Cologne, Germany’s Clinic for Plastic Surgery and Hand Surgery, says SpinCare “addresses the individual needs of our patients by providing them a maximum of mobility and comfort during their healing period. It fits perfectly each individual wound size and surface and can be applied easily by health care professionals.” Furthermore, says Schulz, “this dressing provides an ideal environment for wound healing in superficial to partial thickness wound depth. To my mind, Spincare is a modern solution for wound treatment.” A New Approach in Wound Care Barak explains that the Nanomedic device was first conceptualized by her team about seven years ago. The company was officially founded only in 2018. “Electrospinning machines are big and highly sophisticated. To use them for wound care, we needed to miniaturize the technology, which hasn’t been done before.” The unique handheld device can therefore be used not only in hospitals but also on the scene of emergencies. It can be stored on ambulances and in public buildings. “This is a completely new innovative product for wound care,” says Barak. “The market is full of dressings, but our device is the only one that manufactures the matrix directly on the wound, covering and protecting it during the healing process.” Even severe and complicated wounds need just one application. Developed and manufactured in Lod, the Tel Aviv suburb where Ben-Gurion International Airport is located, Spincare recently launched in Europe. “We are submitting an FDA proposal, and hope to launch in the United States in the second half of this year after receiving FDA clearance,” says Barak. Meanwhile, Nanomedic is continuing clinical trials and recently announced that Spincare will be used at Rambam Health Care Campus, a 1,000-bed hospital serving northern Israel. “Nanomedic’s Spincare system has many advantages, including protection against infection from contaminating bacteria and properties that allow it to optimally adhere to the injury in a way that regular dressings cannot,” said Prof. Yehuda Ullmann, chair of Rambam’s surgical department and director of its plastic surgery department. “The biggest benefit for patients is the avoidance of the pain often incurred from changing bandages, especially when treating children.” Barak points out that the same platform could be used in many ways, such as aesthetics and cosmetics, dermatology and surgery. “We can put additives in the ampule like antibacterial agents, collagen or silicone,” she says. For more information, click here To read the original article click here. For more articles from Israel21c click here.

The post Revolutionary Spray-On Skin Is Better Than a Bandage for Wounds appeared first on Amazing Health Advances.

No Need to Rip Off the Bandage: This One Dissolves in Water

AHA Publisher — Mon, 21 Sep 2020 07:00:21 +0000

Brian Blum via Israel21c – Sometimes the worst part about a cut or scrape is taking off the band-aid. And if the injury is a severe burn or a chronic diabetic ulcer, daily bandage changing can be excruciating. If you’re wincing in pain at the thought, you’ll be happy to hear about Israeli startup Inteligels, which is commercializing a technology from Hebrew University Prof. Daniel Cohn that turns a “smart” bandage from liquid to solid and back again. No more yanking off the bandage – it simply dissolves in response to a trigger such as cool water of a certain temperature. The bandage is smart in the other direction, too. Instead of sticking this bandage on a wound, you could simply spread it as a gel or spray it on, after which it solidifies. Cohn is a world-renowned expert on biomedical polymers. A professor at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem’s Casali Institute of Applied Chemistry, he has been working on his liquid-to-solid polymer bandage for the last five years. He linked up with entrepreneur Alex Brown, now Inteligels’ development director. With a $400,000 seed investment, Inteligels was set up to take Cohn’s SLB (smart liquid bandage) to market. CEO Yair Sapir tells ISRAEL21c that US FDA and European Union CE approval could come as early as the middle of next year. For Chronic Conditions While a smart bandage for home use would be nice – and is definitely on Inteligels’ long-term roadmap – the company’s first applications will be for chronic conditions where the pain is severe and sustained. That was Dan Ariely’s motivation for joining Inteligels as an advisor. The noted Israeli American professor of psychology and behavioral economics at Duke University has been obsessed with the topic of why humans make decisions that seem irrational ever since he suffered third-degree burns over 70% of his body as a result of an accident at his high school graduation. During three years in and out of hospitals and surgeries, he noted that many nurses ripped off his bandages quickly. “It was excruciating but the nurses insisted that tearing the bandages off was the best way,” Ariely writes in his 2010 best-selling book Predictably Irrational. But Ariely’s research found the opposite to be true: People would rather endure a lower amount of pain for a longer period time than a very high amount of pain for a shorter time. With Inteligels, Ariely may have found a company with the potential to eliminate the pain of bandage ripping altogether. Because Inteligels’ smart bandages can be spread or sprayed on, they can cover virtually any shape or size of wound, including hard-to-maneuver and wrap injuries on a joint like the knee, a pressure ulcer on your back, or even inside the body after removal of, say, a polyp, where the bandage can stop internal bleeding. When the smart bandage polymer hardens, it conforms to the body. To remove it, you can apply an ice pack or wash it off with cool water. “You can take a shower with warm water and it stays there,” Sapir explains. “The water is not the trigger. The temperature is.” That makes the bandage more environmentally friendly – you flush it away as a liquid rather than dumping a solid into the trash. Inteligels even has plans for a biodegradable tampon. Transparent, Delivering Medication Inteligels’ bandages will be transparent, allowing healthcare workers and patients to view the wound underneath. And the bandages can be a high-tech vehicle to deliver antiseptics, antibiotics or analgesics. The medicine would be delivered when the right trigger is met – a certain body temperature or pH level – and at the right level for a specific patient. “It’s much more user friendly,” Sapir says, comparing Inteligels’ product with smart bandages that have a layer of medication but no triggered release. Plus, you still have to rip off the bandage at some point. Sapir shares the example of patients who need to treat diabetic ulcers. It’s a daily struggle, he says. “The process of putting it on the ulcer, then taking it off for the next session creates a lot of stress. The patient feels that stress even before ripping off the bandage. If you could wash the bandage off the ulcer instead, it has a real impact on emotional well-being as well as physical pain.” Inteligels has just a couple of full-time staff; all the R&D was done in Prof. Cohn’s lab. The company is currently raising a $2 million round. Although the Covid-19 crisis has made it tougher to raise money and impossible to present new products at medical conferences, interest in medical startups is higher than ever. Sapir’s background is in managing clinical trials. He did that at Brainsgate, which is developing treatments for stroke, and before that at Neuronix, which is building a medical device to help patients with mild-to-moderate Alzheimer’s disease improve their cognitive functioning. Inteligels is working with an unnamed US medical provider to get its smart bandages into clinics and home care. And it is in advanced beta testing with a German veterinary group that has been testing Inteligels on farm animals and pets. Animals would benefit from a liquid-to-solid bandage, Sapir says. “You wouldn’t have to shave the animal’s body or wrap the whole leg. It just sticks to the body, then stays flexible, so the animal doesn’t try to pull it out.” Ultimately, a flexible bandage that dissolves in water sounds like just what the 21st century doctor ordered. To read the original article click here. For more articles from Israel21c click here.

The post No Need to Rip Off the Bandage: This One Dissolves in Water appeared first on Amazing Health Advances.

wound care Archives - Amazing Health Advances

Revolutionary Spray-On Skin Is Better Than a Bandage for Wounds

No Need to Rip Off the Bandage: This One Dissolves in Water