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OKAPI Medical Plans To Land In Akron

Two veterans of the local medical device industry have teamed up to form a new company they hope will develop a new and better bandage, and they intend to set up in Akron.

Bill Fuller, co-founder of Sotera Medical, now known as S4 Medical, and Dr. David Kay have formed a company called OKAPI Medical, Fuller said.

Kay is an orthopedic surgeon who in 1995 founded OrthoHelix, a company that developed implants and instruments used in reconstructive foot and ankle surgery. That company was sold in 2012 for $155 million in what local investors say was the biggest takeout to be seen in Akron in recent memory.

S4 Medical makes devices used to move and protect the esophagus during cardiac surgery to treat atrial fibrillation. The company was formed in 2012 by Fuller and Dr. Emile Daoud in Cleveland.

The new company, OKAPI, just got funding from the city’s Akron Bioinvestments Fund II and, along with some capital from other investors, has raised more than $500,000, Fuller said.

He added that it will use that money to develop a new type of bandage, using technology from University of Akron polymer researchers, that will enable surgeons to better close wounds.

“It’s a pretty significant advancement with regard to how wound closing is typically handled,” Fuller explained. “It’s an adhesive. It actually uses very similar chemistry to what’s now commercially used. It’s just an advancement with some new polymer chemistry that’s added to an existing adhesive material.”

Unlike current adhesives, which become stiff or outright rigid once they dry on a patient’s skin, this new adhesive remains flexible. That leads to less tearing of the skin from a bandage when a patient moves, and the bandage feels better when worn, he said.

The product is not yet in production and still is in development about a year after Fuller and Kay licensed the technology from the university, Fuller said.

Once it is ready for the market, he’s hoping the Food and Drug Administration will quickly clear it for use, because nearly all of the materials used in the adhesive are known to and already have been approved by federal regulators.

For Akron, it’s another mark of progress as it seeks to develop a medical device corridor downtown — a more than 10-year effort so far that has produced mixed results. New companies such as OKAPI and BioFlightVR, which makes virtual reality training tools for hospitals, have been drawn to town. But the city had less-than-complete success at filling up the Austen BioInnovation Institute downtown with new startups and transplants, though the arrival of BioFlight did help that situation.

Akron Mayor Dan Horrigan welcomed OKAPI and said it will help the city establish itself as an innovation hub.

Other companies are popping up elsewhere, too, including at the Bounce Innovation Hub, the city’s downtown business incubator.

It recently got a new tenant, coincidentally in the form of another startup aimed at medical adhesive technology, PolyLux. Its co-founder, Dr. Abraham Joy, reported he’s now established a lab at Bounce and is working to develop his product.

PolyLux is developing a bandage adhesive that will release when exposed to UV light, which will make it better for use on elderly and infant patients who have fragile skin but might have bandages that need to be repeatedly reapplied for procedures.

OKAPI, on the other hand, is going after the surgical incision market, where it could market its product directly to surgeons and hospitals that use a lot of bandages. Later, it might go after other markets, such as emergency responders or others who have to deal with traumatic injuries in the field, Fuller said.

But if it can conquer the surgical market, OKAPI might have a disruptive technology, Fuller contended, because it might be able to replace sutures in many surgical situations.

First, OKAPI has to conduct more studies and do more product development and testing, he said. Much of that work is being done at the Northeast Ohio Medical University in Rootstown.

OKAPI also has to find a home, as Kay and Fuller currently do most of the work off-site.

It might end up being a neighbor of PolyLux. – Clain’s Cleveland Business

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