VitaSuture device image 14 July 2014VitaThreads LLC scored a Small Business Innovation Research Phase I Grant to study VitaSuture Wound Management Systems (VWMS). The new grant’s objective will be to optimize the performance characteristics of VWMS.

The system uses a proprietary fibrin microthread technology. VitaThreads are about the width of a human hair, and composed of collagen, fibrin, and other biologic materials. The microthreads can be braided into cable-like structures that mimic natural tissues. The threads, when seeded with varying cell types, can be used as scaffolds for wound healing and skeletal muscle regeneration, among other purposes.

“The facial suture technology has not appreciably advanced over the past many years, and I believe that devices that enable rapid, scar-free healing offer the best clinical option for patients undergoing facial wound repair for aesthetic procedures,” says Kevin Smith, MD, clinical associate professor of plastic surgery, division of plastic and reconstructive surgery at the University of North Carolina (UNC) Chapel Hill. Smith will be working with VitaThreads on the new grant. “The data I have seen from VitaThreads’ VWMS technology suggests an opportunity to achieve this objective.”

In June 2014, preliminary animal data suggested that VWMS provides speedier suture absorption with a lower risk of inflammation than currently available sutures.