Technology

The Company has exclusively licensed patents from Carnegie Mellon University, with additional U.S. and foreign filings. Its proprietary process allows the creation of plastic materials that retain their bioactivity even after sterilization and months of storage at room temperature.

Because of a lack of effective products, physicians have begun to look for ways to improve the healing of soft tissue and bone and are rapidly embracing the use of platelet-rich plasma (PRP) manufactured in the operating room from a patient's own blood. PRP contains growth factors and other proteins that appear to accelerate healing and is being rapidly adopted for numerous clinical applications, including the repair of tendons, ligaments, cartilage, bone, skin wounds, and other applications. Normal platelet counts in human blood average approximately 200,000/μL; platelet-rich plasma (PRP) has a concentration 5 times larger, or about 1,000,000/μL.

There are, however, problems with the use of autologous PRP. Being a liquid, PRP is quickly absorbed by the body and does not appear to reside long enough adjacent to the tendon to assist in the reparative and remodeling phases of the healing process, which may not begin until the 3rd week in tendon injuries, for example. Early clinical results have been somewhat mixed, and there is evidence that the commercially available platelet concentrators are not equal in their ability to concentrate active platelets in sufficient numbers to produce the desired healing enhancement. The use of such platelet concentrators also appears to be operator-dependent. The clinical excitement in the use of PRP, however, is evidence of the need for a product that can encourage healing safely at a reasonable cost. Carmell's plasma-based plastics are off-the-shelf, plastic versions of PRP that slowly release the endogenous growth and regenerative factors as they degrade.

Plasmix™ Surgical Patch Carmell's first product is the Plasmix™ Surgical Patch for rotator cuff and tendon injuries, a sterile patch manufactured from platelet-rich plasma (PRP). The surgeon can fashion the shape of the patch by cutting with either scissors or a scalpel and suture or wrap the patch over the tendon as desired. Surgical patches are used to cover the rotator cuff tendons and muscles with a resorbable scaffold to provide reinforcement of the soft tissue during healing. Carmell's patch has been designed to degrade over a 4-6 week period, slowly releasing growth factors.

Plasmix Cartilage Repair Plug The Company is also developing a second product for bone and cartilage. Carmell's Plasmix Cartilage Repair Plug is a sterile, hard rod designed to degrade over 8-12 weeks with mechanical properties similar to osteochondral tissue. Plasmix plugs can be easily shaped and contoured and replace the need for harvesting autologous bone and cartilage plugs, eliminating the associated morbidity and costs.