LYON – Medical device start-up GATT Technologies, based in Nijmegen, The Netherlands, has announced the first successful implant of its GATT-Patch, which is used to resolve bleeding in a patient undergoing liver resection surgery, at the Radboud university medical centre in Nijmegen.

GATT-Patch is a flexible, fibrous sheet, highly efficiently dry impregnated with synthetic activated POx-polymers, produced using the technology of Fibroline, based in Lyon, France following an ongoing collaboration.

The first patient implant marks the start of a multi-centre clinical trial that will be conducted by three leading academic medical centres in the Netherlands – at Radboud in Nijmegen, and at The University Medical Centre in Groningen and Erasmus Medical Centrum in Rotterdam.

“All pre-clinical work performed in the past years based on our synthetic polymer technology has confirmed the safety and superior performance of the GATT-Patch,” said GATT Technologies CEO Geert van Gansewinkel. “It is very exciting to now see our lead product used in patients, which will give us vital data regarding its safety and performance in a clinical setting.”

“We have enjoyed the competence and ability to act fast of the GATT team and think it is one of the main advantages of small teams with short communication lines,” said Fibroline CEO Jérôme Ville.

“Our technology portfolio has been optimised over the last year to meet Medtech standards and we are now in a position to integrate our solutions into scaled up cleanroom solutions,” added Nancy Hummel, in charge of the Medtech product developments at Fibroline. “For example, we are able to guarantee a very clean powder processing and avoid any cross contamination between the different formulations, while obtaining the desired powder distribution into the porous media. This allows us to work with progressively more challenging customers in many areas of medical and hygienic use.”