What is Smart Matrix®?

Smart Matrix® is a ground breaking new medical device that acts as a scaffold to assist wound healing.

It is designed to assist the body’s natural healing process by providing a framework for new blood vessels and skin cells to migrate into the wound, allowing the skin to regenerate, achieving wound closure without the need for a skin graft.

It is composed of a porous matrix of human fibrin, a protein produced naturally in the body when bleeding occurs.

Smart Matrix® was developed as a direct response to surgeons seeking more effective treatments for closing surgical wounds.

What is Smart Matrix®?

Smart Matrix® is a ground breaking new medical device that acts as a scaffold to assist wound healing.

It is designed to assist the body’s natural healing process by providing a framework for new blood vessels and skin cells to migrate into the wound, allowing the skin to regenerate, achieving wound closure without the need for a skin graft.

It is composed of a porous matrix of human fibrin, a protein produced naturally in the body when bleeding occurs.

Smart Matrix® was developed as a direct response to surgeons seeking more effective treatments for closing surgical wounds.

How it works

Smart Matrix® harnesses the body’s own healing processes. It acts as a scaffold to provide a framework for new blood vessels and skin cells to infiltrate a wound, critical to healthy skin regeneration and repair. Smart Matrix® is a single application device and is absorbed into the body as wound healing progresses.

Preliminary data from trials in humans, and pre-clinical data in animals, suggest that Smart Matrix® enables wound healing without the need for a skin graft, unlike other treatments for “full thickness” or deep skin wounds.

How it works

Smart Matrix® harnesses the body’s own healing processes. It acts as a scaffold to provide a framework for new blood vessels and skin cells to infiltrate a wound, critical to healthy skin regeneration and repair. Smart Matrix® is a single application device and is absorbed into the body as wound healing progresses.

Preliminary data from trials in humans, and pre-clinical data in animals, suggest that Smart Matrix® enables wound healing without the need for a skin graft, unlike other treatments for “full thickness” or deep skin wounds.

Clinical uses

Once launched, Smart Matrix® is expected to be used in numerous clinical settings in which full thickness skin wounds occur, with the focus initially being on the treatment of surgical wounds (e.g. skin cancer tumour removal).

Smart Matrix® may however, also have the potential to be used in the following full thickness wound indications, promoting skin regeneration and wound healing with reduced scarring:

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Cosmetic surgery

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Severe burns

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Chronic wounds

(such as diabetic foot ulcers or venous leg ulcers)

Research from our colleagues at The Restoration of Appearance and Function Trust (RAFT) pinpointed other potential uses for the technology beyond wound healing, including:

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Reconstructive surgery

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Bone regeneration

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Dental applications

Product evolution

Smart Matrix® was originally developed by the medical research charity The Restoration of Appearance and Function Trust (RAFT), and Smart Matrix Limited was subsequently set up in 2011 to progress the development of the Smart Matrix® technology and take the product through to clinical proof-of-concept and commercialisation.

Product evolution

Smart Matrix® was originally developed by the medical research charity The Restoration of Appearance and Function Trust (RAFT), and Smart Matrix Limited was subsequently set up in 2011 to progress the development of the Smart Matrix® technology and take the product through to clinical proof-of-concept and commercialisation.

Wound healing

The biology behind wound healing

Skin has the ability to heal superficial wounds that damage the epidermis (top layer of skin) and a small part of the dermis (bottom layer of skin). These are termed partial thickness wounds.

Wounds that damage the epidermis and all the dermis require medical treatment. These are called full thickness wounds as both layers of skin are damaged. Full thickness wounds larger than 2cm diameter typically require medical intervention to heal well.

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The need for Smart Matrix®

There remains a pressing need for new ways of treating large, chronic and complex wounds. In particular, the ability to heal wounds without the use of a skin graft would be hugely beneficial to patients and clinicians and represent a step-change in wound treatment. These challenges have yet to be satisfactorily addressed by treatments available today.

Currently, application of a skin graft is the routine treatment for full thickness wounds over a certain size. It is a painful procedure for patients and, while it may help wounds heal quicker thereby preventing some complications, the procedure results in the creation of a second wound that can in turn be prone to infection and be difficult to heal.

Preliminary data from human trials conducted to date suggests that Smart Matrix® may enable healing without the need for a skin graft.

Intellectual property

There are three constituent parts to the protection of Smart Matrix Ltd’s intellectual property position:
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Patents

Extracellular Matrix Composition: WO2007144644 (A2)

  • Priority date: 15/06/2006
  • Granted Europe: EP2035047 (B1)
  • Granted US: US8273372 (B2)
  • Covers the process for generating Smart Matrix® comprising use of fibrinogen, a coagulating agent, a bulking agent, a foaming agent and a crosslinking agent; the product generated by this process and its application in tissue engineering and wound healing.

Extracellular Matrix – Synthetic Skin Scaffold: WO2013164635 (A1)
 

  • Priority date: 03/05/2012
  • Granted Australia: AU2013255578 (B2)
  • Granted Japan: JP6250638 (B2)
  • Granted Europe: EP2844307 (B1)
  • Pending in: USA and Canada
  • Covers the process for generating an optimised formulation of Smart Matrix® comprising use of fibrinogen, a coagulating agent, a bulking agent, a foaming agent and a crosslinking agent, wherein the foaming agent contains at least one sugar-surfactant; product generated using this process and its application in tissue engineering and wound healing; product with specific porosity and elastic properties, generated using the process.
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Know How

The precise formulation of Smart Matrix® and the manufacturing process details remain confidential, i.e. are a trade secret.
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Trademark

Smart Matrix® is a registered trademark (No: 2650438) in the classes of “Surgical, medical, dental and veterinary apparatus and instruments” and “Scientific and technological services and research and design relating thereto”.