Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania -- Cohera Medical Inc. has seen its TissuGlu urethane adhesive used on the first patient in an ongoing clinical study on the glue's use in abdominal surgery.
Currently, said Cohera, patients who undergo abdominoplasty (commonly called 'tummy tuck') have to have drains inserted to remove fluids that accumulate under the skin at the surgical site. In some cases, wound drainage is inadequate and excess fluid called seroma builds up. This has to be removed in an additional procedure.
But TissuGlu adheres the tissue flaps created during the surgery, to reduce fluid accumulation, and, ultimately, the duration of use of the surgical drains, Cohera said. When TissuGlu is used, fluid accumulation in patients may be significantly reduced, leading to more comfortable recovery, and a quicker return to normal activity, according to the company's claims.
Cohera has data to show that TissuGlu prevented seroma formation in animal abdominoplasty, as summarised in a paper called "Lysine-Derived Urethane Surgical Adhesive Prevents Seroma Formation in a Canine Abdominoplasty Model," (Plast. Reconstr. Surg. 2008; Vol. 122, Issue 1: 95-102).
"The market opportunity for our company with TissuGlu is very significant, ranging between $500 million and $750 million from 2011 to 2015. If you add the additional applications such as facelift, breast reconstruction and body contouring that we will pursue with TissuGlu, the opportunity increases to between $700 million to more than $1 billion over the same five-year period," said Patrick Daly, president and chief executive officer of Cohera Medical, in the company's 18 Dec announcement.
Pittsburgh-based Cohera Medical develops surgical adhesives "based on a unique chemical design that is purely synthetic, easy to use, biocompatible and fully resorbable," the company said. The company is also developing surgical adhesives for mesh fixation, small bone fixation and other plastic surgery uses that will fill similar market needs in plastic, orthopedics and general surgery.
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