Partnership to Develop Polymer-Based Wound Sealer

An agreement to jointly develop new products aimed at reducing the complications of biopsy procedures has been announced by Genzyme Biosurgery (Cambridge, MA, USA) and Bio-Seal (Tucson, AZ, USA).

The two companies will focus on reducing the complications associated with biopsy procedures in the lung, liver, and kidney. The collaboration will seek to develop new polymer-based products that are synthetic, bioabsorbable and expandable, that can be used to seal the wound after a biopsy procedure. The agreement teams Genzyme Biosurgery's expertise and intellectual property associated with synthetic biopolymers with Bio-Seal's technical experience with needle delivery systems and biomarking.

Under the agreement, Genzyme Biosurgery agrees to provide Bio-Seal with an exclusive worldwide license to use its patented Focal synthetic bioabsorbable polymer technologies in lung, liver and kidney postbiopsy closure applications in exchange for certain upfront payments, product development milestone payments, and royalties on future product sales. Genzyme Biosurgery will supply materials and polymer expertise to Bio-Seal, which will be responsible for manufacturing and distributing products that result from the collaboration. Financial terms were not disclosed.

"We look forward to working with Bio-Seal, and to extending the uses of our biomaterials technology to include polymer-based closure products,” said Jim Burns, senior vice president at Genzyme Biosurgery. "We believe Bio-Seal's unique methods in combining synthetic polymers with its proprietary delivery system will lead to an array of new products for interventional radiologists and their patients.”




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