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SolasCure has been awarded a highly competitive Biomedical Catalyst Grant for industry-led research and development (R&D) from Innovate UK. The funding, totalling £405K, 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.
SolasCure is one of 32 companies to be awarded the grant, which aims to support the development of solutions to significant health and healthcare challenges, out of 358 candidates that applied.
The grant will be used to improve the ambient temperature stability of Aurase Wound Gel enabling transport and use of the product in a wide range of settings, as well as to adjust the release kinetics to ensure that tarumase is present at the wound surface at optimal concentrations throughout the treatment period. By optimising Aurase Wound Gel for further clinical trials, SolasCure aims to deliver a product that will promote the healing of chronic wounds by addressing all elements of wound management.
“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 MD, MBA, Chairman of the Board, SolasCure. “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.”
The Innovate UK funding complements a recently received European Innovation Council Accelerator grantto further de-risk SolasCure’s development of Aurase Wound Gel.