|
Ilika Technologies Ltd, the science-led materials discovery company and CellTran Ltd, specialist providers of autologous skin products and services, have entered into a five-year agreement to further develop and commercialise their corneal cell bandage product.
The aim of the programme is to develop corneal bandages to accelerate the recovery of patients suffering from eye diseases and injuries. A number of novel polymers have been identified and proven to be effective for the application. The polymers have been specifically designed to encourage proliferation of corneal cells and to enable easy transfer onto the patient.s eye. Pre-clinical studies at the University of Sheffield and UCL Institute of Opthalmology have delivered encouraging results.
Mal Jarmolowicz, CEO of CellTran, stated, "The speed with which we have developed this new product has been very satisfying. Based on the strength of the results to date, we expect to commence clinical trials in 18-24 months. "
"Ilika firmly believes in the value of joint development projects of this nature, where the complementary skill-sets of organizations are combined to create innovative new products. Ilika will be jointly funding the further development of this product with CellTran, sharing the cost and risk of product development as well as benefiting from the rewards of commercialization", added Graeme Purdy, CEO of Ilika.
Ilika provides an innovative approach to high throughput materials discovery and brings its customers enhanced value through speed of execution and science-led approaches to experimental design. Ilika.s approach has been demonstrated to significantly accelerate the creation and assessment of materials in a range of markets and establish strong intellectual property (IP) positions in new materials
CellTran delivers a wound treatment based on a patient's own viable skin cells. The process grows these cells outside of the body on a specially synthesised polymer layer, containing chemical functionality that accelerates the expansion of keratinocytes. CellTran operates a skin bank through which it can assist clinics and surgical units in the storage and provision of autologous graft skin. |
