By Tara Croft
ATLANTA, GA–Wound-care company Biofisica, founded in 2000, hopes to revolutionize the soft-tissue regeneration market and improve the quality of life for chronic wound sufferers with its new type of wound dressing.
The company has raised $11 million to date through its Series A round of funding. Andino says he hopes to raise $12 – $15 million in the Series B round, to double the size of the company by mid-2008. Current investors include Novartis, Unilever Technology Ventures and other private investors.
Though it is headquartered in Atlanta, Biofisica’s first product, POSiFECT RD Wound Care Dressing, was launched in November 2006 in the United Kingdom, where about half the world’s advanced wound care market is located.
Rafael Andino, president and CEO of Biofisica, tells TechJournal South the company will soon submit an application for FDA approval of the treatment so it can be sold in the U.S.
Andino says the product was first launched in the UK because of its “unique health care system for wound care patients.” With nurses who specialize in tissue viability, Andino says the market was more receptive to the new product than in the U.S.
The dressings use Bio-Electric Stimulation Therapy, which works to restore ionic currents to the wound site. The company says the currents are essential to proper healing and are not usually present in non-healing wounds.
The treatment consists of disposable, sterile dressings intended for short-term treatment programs that foster the maximum flow of current in wounds.
Biofisica aims to decrease the amount of money spent worldwide on maintaining patients with non-healing wounds through methods such as closure and grafts. Instead, it wants to shift the medical focus to administering more effective healing treatments.
According to Biofisica estimates, the wound care market is valued at $12 billion per year, with $1.3 billion coming from the advanced wound care sector. About $8 billion comes from closure expenses.
Andino says the wound dressings cost about half the price of the leading advanced wound care product, the V.A.C. Therapy System from Texas-based KCI.
Biofisica has 10 full-time employees and close to 80 when including part-time contractors, consultants, and other workers.
For more information see: www.Biofisica.com
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