The Army seeks a commercial and/or cooperative development partner for a rapid clotting technology to use in a variety of emergency and surgical situations. New technology applied to clotting could be used by first responders, emergency room professionals, and surgeons.
Hemorrhage is one of the most common causes of death among people who die prior to reaching an emergency room or patients that die in the operating room. Research has demonstrated the individual effectiveness of recombinant “factor VIIa” and “fibrinogen” in clotting. VIIa plays a key role in activating the blood coagulation process and fibrinogen provides the raw materials needed to make an effective clot.
The Army has patented the combination of recombinant “factor VIIa” and “fibrinogen” for stemming blood loss and restoring hemostasis. The combination is administered intravenously and circulates safely through the body to the site of injury. The approach would be especially useful for treating multiple wounds and internal bleeding.
Advantages to using this approach to treating clotting would mean that trauma could be treated in the field or on the way to the hospital, components could be stored for years in dry form or for months in a wet form, it’s easy to use and reconstitutes quickly, can be administered via IV, and is useful in difficult cases to help control bleeding in hard-to-reach injuries.
The Air Force has developed a realistic training simulator to use for Negative Pressure Wound Therapy (NPWT) that incorporates bleeding, fluid extraction, pulse points. It can be used to represent various wound types and depths such as bed sores, diabetic ulcers, and blast/high energy trauma on different anatomic locations.
A need exists for improved NPWT training and simulation as current NPWT training devices offer limited physiological realism and functionality. FDA has issued an advisory on deaths and injuries associated with NPWT over a two year period. FDA reports that adequate training is needed as the first potential remedy especially for home and long-term care facility users where most deaths occur.
So far, a prototype of an Air Force’s trainer has been constructed with commercial off-the-shelf components. Final designs and configurations for the trainer are flexible and can be determined by the commercial developer. The trainer can be developed as a standalone task trainer or engineered for use with high fidelity simulators. The prototype trainer is built and tested and now the Air Force is looking for potential for R &D collaboration. The U.S patent application is available for license.
For more information on both opportunities, email Darin D. Oelkers at darin@montana.edu or call (406) 994-7723 or email Dan Swanson at dss@montana.edu or call (406) 994-7736.
