Next generation polyurethane-based surgical sealants

Adhesys Medical develops novel polyurethane-based medical adhesives for use on the skin and inside the body for a great variety of potential application areas. Due to their unique composition, they differ from existing technologies on various dimensions. The adhesive technology is:

• Fully Synthetic
• Easy to use
• Flexible
• Biodegradable and
• Usable in wet environments

It is our mission to bring our innovative wound sealants into every Emergency Room, Operating Room and soldier’s medical pack, to save lives, radically enhance surgical procedures and improve patient comfort.

CUTIS is a topical skin adhesive designed to close wounds of the skin such as cuts and wounds from surgical incisions. It may also be used as support for sutures. Based on polyurethane, it is completely different from existing skin adhesives based on cyanoacrylate.

 Find out more about our novel skin adhesive here

VIVO is a surgical sealant for use inside the body to stop bleeding, seal wounds and reinforce suture lines. It is the first hemostatic sealant that works in a wet environment. It is biodegradable, flexible, fast curing and fully synthetic, allowing for use in a great variety of surgical procedures.

Find out more about this novel surgical sealant here

Although entirely synthetic, the Adhesys technology is biocompatible. In addition, the product for use inside the body is biodegradable.

More on biodegradability 

The high, honey-like viscosity, allows the adhesives to be applied to wounds in a targeted manner, without infiltrating into the wound.

More on viscosity

Due to its hydrophilic nature, bodily fluids accelerate the adhesive’s reaction – the wound is sealed even faster.

More on use in wet spaces

When applied, the adhesives perfectly adapt to the underlying tissue, forming a type of second skin, which is resistant to bodily movements.

More on flexibility

The Adhesys products are high-strength adhesives, able to seal high-pressure wounds and provide safe and strong wound closure.

More on adhesive strength

As ready-to-use products, they are especially suitable for emergency situations, as they do not require preparation or thawing prior to use.

More on usage

Perioperative bleeding and leakage from the site of anastomosis frequently cause severe complications during and after surgery. Especially cardiovascular surgery carries a high risk of perioperative bleeding.  In cardiac procedures severe bleeding occurs in around 7% of cases¹.

The current standard of care used to address these issues include fibrin-based sealants as well as synthetic sealants. Both however lack certain characteristics, making them unsuitable in a great variety of surgical settings. Consequently, bleeding complications and leakage remain unaddressed problems.

A strong, fully synthetic, yet flexible and biodegradable sealant that works in a wet environment and exhibits the necessary properties is urgently needed. Potential application areas for such a sealant include stopping arterial and venous bleeding, aortic root replacement procedures, vascular reconstruction procedures as well as suture line sealing and reinforcement in cardiovascular surgery.

Learn more on applications here

Adhesys Medical, formerly Medical Adhesive Revolution, is a medical device company based in Germany and the United States and is dedicated to developing one-of-a-kind, polyurethane-based surgical sealants. Based on a technology that has been developed since 2007, the company was founded in 2013 in Aachen, Germany to bring the sealants to market. The company owns all patents regarding the technology and has completed the development of two product lines: one for topical use to close wounds of the skin, such as surgical incisions and laparoscopic incisions that have easily approximated skin edges, and one for internal use to seal areas of leakage, reinforce suture lines, and stop bleeding.

In a first financing round, the company received funding from the Seed Fund Aachen II, the KfW Bank and private investors. In April 2014, the team won the Rice Business Plan Competition in Houston, Texas and $500,000 in investment prize money. After a $2.7 million investment by the US-investors, the GOOSE Society of Texas and OWLS, the Rice University Alumni, Adhesys Medical expanded to the United States and opened an office in Houston, Texas to bring its sealants to the US-market. It is the team’s vision to bring their wound sealants into every Emergency Room, Operating Room, and soldier’s medical pack, to save lives, radically enhance surgical procedures, and improve patient comfort.

In early 2017, Adhesys Medical was acquired by the Aachen-based pharmaceutical company Grünenthal GmbH and continues to operate as a wholly-owned subsidiary of the Grünenthal Group.

[1] Shander: “Financial and clinical outcomes associated with surgical bleeding complications.” Surgery 2007, 142:S20-S25.