Bayer plans to enter the market for wound-healing products. Bayer Innovation GmbH ? a subsidiary of Bayer AG ? has developed a leading-edge technology for the manufacture of bioresorbable wound dressings on the basis of silica gel fibers. A ceremony was held on May 4 in Leverkusen to mark the inauguration of a pilot plant which will manufacture the wound dressing in sufficient quantities to enable clinical trials to be carried out.
Accelerated wound healing ? particularly where extensive and difficult-to-heal lesions are concerned ? is a segment in which there is a very high level of unmet medical need and consequently one that is likely to offer outstanding business potential for innovative products. There are many instances in which the silica gel wound dressing can satisfy hitherto unmet medical requirements. It forms a scaffold around which skin cells can grow and is decomposed by the body during the wound-healing process.
“There are many patients who have difficult-to-heal wounds ? those with diabetes or burns being prime examples ? and our materials could help these wounds to close faster and heal more effectively than with conventional products,” said Dr. Wolfgang Plischke, the member of Bayer AG’s Board of Management whose areas of responsibility include innovation. “This is an example for a new business area, to expand our leading role in the global health market with new products. We are pursuing innovative solutions that go beyond the confines of our subgroups to develop new products and business ideas. Our ability to exploit expertise generated in different areas is one of Bayer’s strengths,” Dr. Plischke explained at the inaugural ceremony.
On behalf of Bayer Innovation, Bayer Technology Services developed the manufacturing process, set up the pilot plant and will run it in compliance with the guidelines for Good Manufacturing Practice (GMP) at the Leverkusen site.
The bioresorbable wound dressing will be tested in the treatment of chronic wounds in a number of studies. Once the clinical phase of development has been completed successfully, regulatory approval in the first market is expected in 2010. The portfolio will be expanded in the future by integrating active substances which promote wound healing into the fibers. These substances include anti-inflammatory drugs, analgesic in the future drugs and growth factors.
“With this project we are providing Bayer with a way into one of the most interesting medical technology markets of the future,” Dr. Detlef Wollweber, Managing Director of Bayer Innovation GmbH, said with evident pleasure. He predicts that “the market will have average growth rates of ten to fifteen percent annually, interesting margins and a forecast total volume in excess of three billion Euro in 2012.”
The promising technology on which the bioresorbable wound dressing is based was discovered over ten years ago by the Fraunhofer Institute for Silicate Research (ISC) in W?rzburg; its subsequent development was carried out by Bayer Innovation.
Bayer Innovation GmbH (BIG), headquartered in D?sseldorf, is a wholly owned subsidiary of Bayer AG. BIG evaluates and develops new fields of business for the Bayer Group that are related to Bayer?s core competencies of health care, nutrition and innovative materials and complement its current key areas of innovation and business.