Innovate UK grant boost for SolasCure’s chronic wound care gel

SolasCure has received a biomedical catalyst grant for industry-led research and development (R&D) from Innovate UK, the UK’s innovation agency.

The biotechnology company developing a novel treatment to transform chronic wound care is based at Wellington House on East Road.

The £405,000 funding will support the continued clinical development of SolasCure’s first investigational product, Aurase wound gel, a hydrogel containing tarumase (provisional INN), an enzyme cloned from medical maggots, for the treatment of millions of patients worldwide with chronic wounds.

The grant will be used to optimise Aurase wound gel for further clinical trials.

Improvements are expected in the ambient temperature stability of Aurase, enabling its transport and use of the product in a wide range of settings, plus to adjust the release kinetics to ensure that tarumase is present at the wound surface at optimal concentrations throughout the treatment period.

“Chronic wounds represent an immense healthcare and economic burden. The Biomedical Catalyst grant award provides exciting validation and recognition from Innovate UK that SolasCure has the technical innovation to address this urgent unmet medical need,” said Andy Weymann, SolasCure’s chairman.

“Following the landmark publication of our phase IIa clinical trial data, the injection of this additional non-dilutive funding will take the development of Aurase wound gel one step closer to improving the lives of millions of patients suffering from chronic wounds.”

SolasCure is one of 32 companies to be awarded the prestigious grant, which aims to support the development of solutions to significant health and healthcare challenges, out of 358 candidates that applied.