Gemstone Biotherapeutics Licenses Additional Johns Hopkins Wound Care Technology
Baltimore, Maryland (PRWEB) February 18, 2016 -- Gemstone Biotherapeutics LLC (Gemstone Bio), a Baltimore-based regenerative medicine company, has exclusively licensed new wound-healing technology from Johns Hopkins University.
The technology, pioneered by Jeremy Walston, M.D., co-director of Johns Hopkins’ Biology of Healthy Aging Program and professor of medicine at the university’s School of Medicine, and Peter Abadir, M.D., assistant professor of medicine at the School of Medicine, has the potential to provide patients who are older and have chronic wounds due to diabetes with a treatment option superior to current products. The product will target diabetic foot ulcers, a growing and costly health care dilemma.
The new license will allow Gemstone Bio to develop and commercialize advanced wound-healing solutions.
“Gemstone Bio’s original, advanced wound care technology was developed by Johns Hopkins researchers,” says George Davis, chief executive officer of Gemstone Bio. “We are familiar with the depth of research used to create these quality solutions. Based on initial results of studies in animals, this new discovery offers a promising solution that will be well-positioned for a significant share in the multibillion-dollar advanced wound care market and add significant prowess to our portfolio.”
Of the 29 million Americans with diabetes, approximately 1.5 million will experience diabetic foot ulcers each year. The annual cost to heal these chronic wounds is estimated at $25 billion in the United States. Globally, the estimated number of people with diabetic foot ulcers is over 20 million. This number is expected to climb as the population ages and the incidence of diabetes increases. Left untreated, diabetic foot ulcers can lead to more serious conditions, such as sepsis, amputations and even death.
Walston and Abadir have identified a mitochondrial angiotensin receptor system that becomes less functional with age. This system likely contributes to age and disease-related declines in multiple tissue types. Doctors also discovered that angiotensin receptor blockers, a category of drugs approved by the Food and Drug Administration for hypertension, can reinvigorate this system. Building on these unique discoveries, they developed a topical agent targeting the biology that inhibits wound healing in patients who are older and have diabetes.
“This promising technology has the potential to benefit the millions of patients in need,” added Davis. "By licensing this technology, Gemstone Bio is in a position to take this novel technology from lab to bedside much more quickly by working through clinical trials and regulatory processes.”
In conjunction with this newly licensed technology, Gemstone Bio is proceeding with trials and regulatory approvals for its existing biosynthetic scaffold, which has shown to improve wound healing in a study published in the Journal of Investigative Dermatology.
About Gemstone Biotherapeutics
Gemstone Biotherapeutics LLC (Gemstone Bio), an award-winning regenerative medicine company based in Baltimore, is developing devices and therapeutics for advanced wound care. The company’s core technologies target cellular deficiencies to promote tissue repair and regeneration. Gemstone is advancing these technologies, originally created in laboratories at the School of Engineering and Medicine at Johns Hopkins University. For more information, visit http://www.gemstonebio.com.
Adrienne Peres, Abel Communications for Gemstone Bio, https://www.gemstonebio.com, +1 (443) 869-2197 Ext: 146, [email protected]
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