In a patient who recently had a liver surgery at the Radboudumc, an innovative blood-strengthening plaster (GATT-Patch) from the Nijmegen company GATT Technologies was used. This is the first time a product from this company, based at the Novio Tech Campus, has been used in patients. The patch has since been used successfully in several patients.
Bleeding after an operation is a serious problem in medicine. GATT Technologies develops bleeding plasters, powders, sprays and tapes that reduce the risk of complications from bleeding, such after-effects, and leakage from tissues. The patient who had a liver surgery at the Radboudumc is the first of a small group of patients to be treated with this patch in a multicentre clinical trial. In addition to the Radboudumc, the University Medical Centre Groningen, which has already treated patients, and the Erasmus Medical Centre Rotterdam are also participating in this study.
Circumventing restrictions
To prevent complications in patients during or after surgery, fast solutions to effectively treat complex bleeding are crucial. Haemostatics (agents that prevent further bleeding by rapid clotting) and sealing agents (a kind of gel) are already sometimes used when other methods to stop the bleeding are not effective enough. But these products are not always easy to use, cannot always stop the bleeding, are often made from animal or human blood products and are also quite expensive. "For patients, it is good news if the plaster from GATT Technologies is able to circumvent these limitations," says Hans de Wilt, Professor of Oncological Surgery at the Radboudumc. "Participating in this clinical study to see if this innovation can improve care fits with the Radboudumc, which after all wants to contribute to a significant impact on healthcare."
Polymer technology
The start of this first clinical study is an important milestone for GATT Technologies, which has gone through all the necessary pre-clinical work in recent years. "It is wonderful to see that this plaster, developed on the basis of our patented synthetic polymer technology, is now actually being used in patients," says Johan Bender, founder and CTO of GATT. "This first study will provide essential data on the safety and efficacy of GATT-Patch in a clinical setting."
Dr. Stuart Head, Chief Medical Officer of GATT: "The principal investigators at Radboudumc, UMCG and Erasmus MC - Professors De Wilt, Porte and Verhoef respectively - and their teams have a great deal of expertise in this area. We hope that we can continue to use their feedback in the further development of our platform."
Important step
"This first-in-man procedure marks a very important step for us," says Geert van Gansewinkel, CEO of GATT, "because we are now moving from a preclinical to a clinical company for medical applications. After this first clinical trial, we are conducting additional trials and after completion of our European trial, we will proceed to the US to seek FDA approval. also, we plan to look at application of the patch in other surgical procedures, such as soft tissue, cardiovascular, pulmonary, renal, pancreatic and so on. In addition, we will continue to develop follow-on products such as GATT powder, for use on a larger surface and for difficult-to-reach bleeding, and GATT gel for use in blood vessel surgery."
