“We have made great strides in R&D” - TissueGen

January 23, 2015 - United States Of America

TissueGen said it has made great strides in its R&D efforts to validate the benefits of its novel method of drug and growth factor delivery and expects to accelerate these advancements in 2015.

TissueGen, developer of Elute fibre, a groundbreaking biodegradable fibre format for advanced drug delivery, closed 2014 with appointing a senior scientist position to manage its spinal cord injury (SCI) repair program.

“The growth of TissueGen’s core team, which it expects to continue to grow in 2015 by as much as 50 per cent, said is a fitting end to a year marked by expansion and R&D in additional application markets.

It said it will also advance its development of spinal cord injury repair and regenerative medicine applications and further improve its core product offering in the new year.

“2014 has been an exciting year in terms of fielding our technology and really exploring how Elute fibre can be used to advance nerve repair and regenerative medicine,” said Christopher Knowles, CEO at TissueGen.

He added, “We have made great strides in our R&D efforts to validate the benefits of our novel method of drug and growth factor delivery and we expect to accelerate these advancements in 2015.”

Regenerative neurobiology experts from the University of Texas demonstrated a model for nerve regeneration at Neuroscience 2014 that utilised both Elute fibres and TissueGen’s licensed, patent-pending technology for creating chemical gradients.

According to TissueGen, the proposed model could improve current nerve repair strategies to optimise regeneration of injured neurons and recovery of function in patients suffering from paralysis without requiring tissue to be harvested from elsewhere in the patient’s body.

In addition to the license from University of Texas at Arlington for chemical gradient technology that enables directed growth of tissues in the body, TissueGen received a patent for its self-anchoring Archer stent with drug delivery capabilities.

Ideal for applications where it is critical for a device to stay in place when implanted in tubular organs of the human body, TissueGen’s Archer helical coil device may act as a vascular stent or anchor for other devices such as filters or indwelling catheters.

To support its development efforts, TissueGen completed several major facility upgrade projects in 2014, including the installation of a Class 10,000 clean room facility, investment in a major information technology upgrade, and acquisition of cutting edge manufacturing and development laboratory tools.

In 2014, the company exhibited at MD&M East in New York and presented at numerous other industry events including MD&M Texas, Advanced Textiles Expo 2014, AMI’s Polymers in Drug Delivery Devices 2014 and the Biomedical Engineering Society’s Women in BME Luncheon 2014.

TissueGen has more than four decades of cumulative experience in extruding biodegradable polymer fibers with broad drug delivery capabilities well-suited for advanced drug delivery, nerve regeneration, and tissue engineering. (AR)