Teleflex (NYSE:TFX) said today that it landed a U.S. Army grant for the Semprus Sustain anti-microbial coating technology it was having a hard time with earlier this year.
The $2.1 million grant from the Army’s Telemedicine & Advanced Technology Research Center will fund research & development of a tibial intramedullary nail using the Semprus coating, according to a press release.
The Army put another $2.5 million on the table, to be awarded at its discretion, Teleflex said. Semprus won a $1.1 million grant from TATRC in 2011, a year before Teleflex bought it for $80 million, including milestones. Later that year Semprus won a $2.3 grant from the military think tank for an endotracheal tube project.
Earlier this year, Teleflex revealed that it was having trouble developing the Semprus technology, saying it might have to write down its investment in the Cambridge, Mass.-based company. As of June 29, the company had recorded assets at risk of roughly $41.0 million on the Semprus buy, according to a regulatory filing.
Unlike other medical device coatings, with the Semprus technology the atoms comprising the coating’s polymers are covalently bonded to the material comprising the medical device, meaning it is "grown" instead of applied. The Army is hoping the technology will lead to a better way to treat battlefield orthopedic injuries, which are now treating by fixating the site of the break and later inserting intramedullary nails, according to the release. But there’s a 30% to 40% infection rate in traumatic open fractures treated that way, the company said.
"Despite receiving initial treatment within minutes of being wounded and the rapid evacuation to definitive care, most open fractures test positive for multi-drug resistant bacteria due to the significant amount of soft-tissue damage inflicted by a blast injury. Highly infected wounds can lead to delayed bone union or ultimately require amputation due to infectious complications," Teleflex said.
"Teleflex is pleased to partner with the U.S. Army to develop a solution to an unmet need in orthopedic injuries affecting our wounded men and women in combat," chairman, president & CEO Benson Smith said in prepared remarks. "This award will help enable Teleflex to combine its proprietary Sustain surface modification and antimicrobial solutions to develop a valuable clinical solution to battleground injuries, and we are hopeful that this collaboration will yield greatly improved clinical outcomes for soldiers."