Technology landscape
Wound dressing technologies
Client overview
Our client was a global consumer products company seeking new, early-stage technologies to support the development of wound care products. Technologies that promoted the regeneration of tissue within the wound, as well as antimicrobial materials, were of interest, as were technologies with skin-mimicking or tissue-engineering properties. Strategic Allies Ltd also researched the pathophysiology of dysregulated wound healing. The client’s aim was a better understanding of the underlying biological mechanisms of normal and impaired wound healing and the consequences on the tissues of the wound bed, to inform their R&D and NPD. SAL identified candidate new technologies being developed by medical device startups, adjacent industry players, and in academia.
The search
Strategic Allies Ltd (SAL) initiated a technology search using secondary sources e.g. company websites, scientific journals, and news articles, to identify treatments for superficial wounds, including those that claimed to promote tissue regeneration in the wound. Potential solutions ranged in Technology Readiness Level (TRL) from 3-9, covering academic articles for surface modifications of novel materials, through to examples of novel wound dressings that had recently been launched commercially. Information on the technology, including materials used, active ingredients, regulatory class, TRL and the technology developer were collated and reviewed with the client every two weeks. This allowed the client to focus the search on areas of particular interest and avoid SAL duplicating work the client had done internally. A subset of the entries were then prioritised for further research and SAL found additional information to expand the technology profiles. SAL presented the research findings in a PowerPoint document, along with conclusions and recommendations for the client’s next steps.
“….some new technologies that have sparked interest”
Outcome
SAL presented 54 technologies for wound healing to the client – Information including the technology type, materials, developer and TRL were shared
The client prioritised 9 technologies – SAL gathered further information including mechanism of action and timeline of development by the technology holder
SAL shared a list of key opportunity areas for further R&D – This was done by reviewing evidence of academic work and scope for commercialisation