Project summary
Tropoelastin-based biomaterial platform for atrophic scars, aesthetics and skin regeneration.
What is the issue?
Tropoelastin is the building block of elastin, a critical component of tissues such as skin, arteries and the lungs, providing physical properties of elasticity, resilience and recoil. Elastin and its precursor, tropoelastin, also play a significant role in the tissue repair process following injury or disease, attracting and guiding the growth of cells involved in tissue repair.
What does the technology aim to do?
Elastagen is a highly innovative NSW medical device company and a world leader in the development and application of products based on its unique tropoelastin-based biomaterial platform. This technology was founded on the work of Prof Tony Weiss at the University of Sydney who is a world leader in this field. This tropoelastin platform and products are underpinned by a strong portfolio of granted and pending patents in the major global markets as well as significant proprietary know-how.
Elastagen’s medical devices are focused on atrophic scars (including stretch marks and acne scars), aesthetics and skin regeneration. The Company’s injectable products for the treatment of stretch marks, acne scars and the rejuvenation of aging skin are all progressing through clinical development. Elastagen also has an advanced preclinical product for skin regeneration and wound repair that is ready to enter the clinic.
As a result of a previous NSW Medical Devices Fund award in 2013, Elastagen was able to establish proof of concept for a skin regeneration product that enabled the Company to attract additional funds from the Wellcome Trust. This was followed by an international Series B equity raise and securing a major development and commercialisation partnership with a leading international player in the wound repair space. Elastagen have previously shown that by incorporating the proprietary tropoelastin protein into dermal regeneration, the key biological and structural cues prime the device with improved vascularisation, dermal regeneration and re-epithelialisation – critical for the regeneration of healthy skin and healing of chronic wounds. As such it is expected that this technology will create a second generation of the market leading products of Elastagen’s partner and improve medical outcomes for patients suffering from severe burn scar contractures and chronic wounds.
The 2016 Medical Devices Fund award will provide the funding for the commercial-scale manufacture of our proprietary tropoelastin protein and support the Company’s ongoing evolution. The corporate partnership in wound repair and the Medical Devices Fund award represent a transformative milestone in establishing Elastagen as a commercially successful NSW device company.
Company contact
Robert Daniels, CEO
rob@elastagen.com
www.elastagen.com