Funding received

3M Health Care's Medical Solutions Division was awarded $34.2 million from the U.S. Army Medical Research Acquisition Activity to develop a range of new solutions for infection prevention, wound management and wound healing. 3M will lead a program focused on treatment strategies that can be used in austere settings, especially those related to mass casualty and delayed evacuation situations — a critical objective of the Department of Defense Combat Casualty Care Capability Assessment. In addition, the program will work to assess biofilm control, biomarker monitoring and healing in acute trauma situations such as blasts, burns, and gunshot wounds that occur in civilian and military settings.  

3M will collaborate with the University of Minnesota Medical School, the 59th Medical Wing Science & Technology Office of the Chief Scientist (59MDW/ST, lead military partner), Naval Medical Research Unit-San Antonio (NAMRU-SA) and The University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio (UT Health San Antonio) in this program. The awarded funding will support four separate product solutions, with studies that range from prototype and formulation development to completion of two clinical studies to be used for product registration.   

"Successful treatment of acute, traumatic wounds requires a continuum of care that begins with easy-to-use dressings and effective infection prevention that can be applied at the point of injury, continues with portable solutions for transport, and transitions to more sophisticated solutions in hospital settings suitable for rehabilitation and reintegration of patients," says Raymond Chiu, senior vice president, research & development, 3M Health Care Business Group. "3M is proud to be working with civilian and military partners to bring these solutions to fruition."

Addressing and stabilizing traumatic injuries in the field requires fast, effective and easy-to-use solutions that provide more capability at the point of injury.  The novel solutions developed and demonstrated in this program will also be well suited for use in civilian traumatic, burn and chronic wound care.

Read more on the funding here.