GeniPhys receives $500K grant to help bring product to market
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Indianapolis-based biotech company GeniPhys has been awarded a $500,000 National Science Foundation grant to support the next steps toward commercialization of its collagen product used for soft tissue restoration.
The grant will go toward manufacturing preparations and the necessary testing to achieve regulatory approval of the company’s flagship product, Collymer Self-Assembling Scaffold, the company said in a news release. The product is a collagen biomaterial that restores tissue without causing the inflammation that can occur with traditional implantable materials.
The award follows a nearly $1 million foundation grant awarded to the Indianapolis company in 2022 to support its expected rollout to the wound care market, the company said.
“Hard-to-heal soft tissue defects and voids due to injury, disease, congenital birth defects or tumor removal are a major burden to both patients and the healthcare system,” CEO Andy Eibling said in the release. “GeniPhys is answering a longtime need for novel options for rapid and effective soft tissue restoration. This grant helps bring us into the homestretch of offering patients the potential of a more cost-effective treatment with more predictable outcomes and shorter healing times.”
Collymer SAS replicates the characteristics of natural collagen for fast healing and restoration of tissue defects, the company said. GeniPhys initially plans to enter the advanced wound care market but also will pursue applications such as in the use of lumpectomies, where studies indicate the product excels as a regenerative breast tissue filler.
The most recent National Science Foundation grant comes about a year and a half after the company completed a $6 million Series A round of funding and established a location in an industrial building at 7750 Zionsville Road on the northwest side of Indianapolis, Inside INdiana Business reported.
The company was founded by chief technology officer Sherry Harbin, who is a professor of biomedical engineering and basic medical services at Purdue University.