This med-tech startup is healing surgical wounds, without the trauma

Axio Biosolutions, backed by Accel, IDG and Ratan Tata's UC-RNT, is set to disrupt the market for gauze and surgical tapes with a novel polymer-based product

For years, gauze has become quite an integral part of wound care treatment. The nurses clean up the affected area and change the dressing every day. 

Other than acting as a mere cover, the passive dressing does not have any impact on the wound, which takes about a week or two before it starts healing. This cleaning exercise is very important, especially when the lesions are really large as in the case of cancer patients who have undergone a surgery. 

Having spotted a gap in the wound care sector, med-tech start-up Axio Biosolutions is soon going to launch a first-of-its-kind product that can absorb, adhere and stop discharge of exudate at the same time. The product is based on active polymer chitosan, a commonly used industrial material extracted from shell fish but rarely used in the medical space. Since it is an active polymer, the product reacts with the blood and sticks to the wound line Fevicol, says Leo Mavely, founder and managing director of the Bengaluru-based biomedical company that is backed by investors such as Accel Partners, IDG Capital and Ratan Tata’s UC-RNT.

“Chitosan as a polymer is an anti-bacterial product, so it does not allow infection to start on the wound and has the capability to stop minor bleeding. It can absorb 48 times its weight,” he says. 

The present wound-healing treatment is also associated with a lot of pain and trauma because when a gauze is peeled off it also takes away healthy tissues. Chitosan as an active polymer, on the other hand, also reacts with water. When water is poured on the product, it becomes a gel, which can be washed off, making the process painless. 

The company’s ultimate aim is to make the product a contact layer for all wounds. The wound care market in India is currently pegged at $100 million, with US-based 3M one of the biggest players in the gauze and surgical tapes segment. 

The journey

Axio Biosolutions’ journey began in 2008, when Mavely was studying bioengineering in Delhi and felt the need for disrupting the wound-management space. The company was born out of an incubation programme and it took Mavely six years to take his first product, Axiostat, to the market. Axiostat, catering to the hemostasis space, was also developed using a different variation of Chitosan polymer to stop bleeding in life-threatening situations like road accidents and battlefields.

According to estimates, around 40 per cent road accident victims succumb to bleeding, and the figure for injuries in battlefields is 50 per cent higher. After getting the Drug Controller General of India’s (DCGI’s) approval in 2012, followed by Europe’s CE mark, the highest certification mark in that region indicating conformity with health, safety, and environmental protection standards for products, Axiostat was launched in the market. 

The product, which looks like a dry piece of sponge, when pushed into the wound cavity, reacts with the platelets to form a clot. It is not an over-the-counter product, but it is available in most hospitals like Apollo, Fortis, and Medanta. The company’s biggest client continues to be the defence services and it has served over 130 battalions so far, including the paratroopers, greyhound, and the border security forces.

In 2015, as the company’s product saw a significant amount of success in the defence sector, it also attracted significant investor attention. Accel Partners and IDG came on board with a Series-A funding of over $2 million. The next round of $7.5 million was led by UC-RNT along with existing investors earlier this year.

Future plans

With the company’s Ahmedabad facility getting a US FDA approval this year, and investment on board, the company will be coming up with the second product in the wound-healing space. The product, which has already been approved by the Food and Drugs Control Administration, will stop minor bleeding and exudate from surgical wounds already under sutures.  

With a vision to ensuring that everyone has Axio’s Chitosan-based products in their first-aid kits, be it in battlefields or in schools and households, the company is looking to reach a scale of Rs 1.5-2 billion in revenues by 2022. It is also targeting 50 per cent of its revenue to come from international markets by 2020, compared with 40 per cent at present.