ISLAMABAD: Cost effective and safe synthetic pro-angiogenic skin grafts have been constructed for the treatment of burns and chronic non-healing ulcer wounds by the Technology Development Fund (TDF) of the Higher Education Commission (HEC).
The project entitled ‘Converting Inexpensive Indigenous Chitosan to High Value Commercial Pro-angiogenic Tissue Engineered Skin Grafts for Burn Patients’ was awarded to Lahore COMSATS University Associate Professor Dr Muhammad Yar. It was aimed at formulating quick, safe and low priced products to immediately stop blood by procuring grail scale-up of chitosan and its water soluble derivatives, conducting chemical and biological re-evaluation of those products and then converting prototypes to commercially valuable outcome.
It is expected that the grafts will become very effective for the treatment of burn and Diabetic Foot Ulcer (DFU) patients in Pakistan and all across the world.
The industrial partner for the project, Cotton Craft, has started working on obtaining a certification from the Drug Regulatory Authority of Pakistan (DRAP) to start human trials and manage commercial scale sterilisation and packaging. The project team is also undertaking all steps to find a clear way forward for product registration and manufacturing.
The project has also been granted a patent in the United States of America (USA). The patent disclosed water soluble biocompatible hydrogel having an amino sugar linked to hydrophilic polymer.
The TDF was initiated to finance academia-industry joint research proposals to impact economy through new and emerging technologies.
Under the TDF, so far 126 projects have been approved for funding. The projects awarded in the FY 2016-17 have entered the execution phase and are yielding positive results.
