Public Funding for Io-Cyte Limited

Around one million patients in the UK are treated every year for complex, slow-healing leg ulcers, diabetic ulcers or pressure sores. They need their wound dressings changed at home or at their local practice, sometimes once a week and sometimes every day. The goal of the project is to develop a wound treatment in dressing form that addresses the major challenges in caring for these complex non-healing wounds, improving the lives of patients and saving some of the estimated £5bn per year that the NHS spends on wound care. With the UK's aging population, the rise in obesity and the epidemic of Type 2 diabetes there is increasing need to treat slow-healing leg ulcers, pressure sores and diabetic foot ulcers at home or in primary care. This project combines multiple benefits for healing wounds in one treatment in a dressing with a long wear time that can be used in community setting. Wounds are often "stuck" in a chronically inflamed state and are likely to have bacterial biofilms that slow down or stop the healing process. Our research carried out to date shows we can combine in a single dressing an anti-inflammatory compound that can speed up wound healing with an ability to reduce the recurring infections in wounds and absorb large amounts of fluid from the wound. This promises to be a break-through solution for the societal needs identified above. Io-Cyte Ltd ([www.io-cyte.co.uk][0]) is a new woundcare technology company that has been spun-out from Xiros Ltd, an established company specialising in orthopaedics. The work comes from research done in Xiros' biomaterials research facility. The product that Io-Cyte will develop and bring to the market is based on the patents that we have filed. [0]: http://www.io-cyte.co.uk/

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