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BANGALORE, India/Singapore: Indian Stelis Biopharma and Bio-Scaffold International (BSI) from Singapore have announced that they have signed a collaboration agreement that will see both companies combining their research activities in the development of medicine- and stem cell-loaded devices for the treatment of various medical and dental conditions. Signed in late October, the partnership is intended to begin this month and aims to develop devices for use in oral and maxillofacial surgery, among other applications.
In a press release, both companies said that initial collaboration will focus on bone morphogenetic protein-loaded scaffolds for use in orthopaedics and in spinal fusion. Therefore, a joint venture in Malaysia or Singapore is planned to seek investors to support the projects. Research activities will be jointly directed by the CEOs of both companies, Drs Anand Iyer and Margam Chandrasekaran. The financial details were not disclosed.
Formerly Rapid-Tech, BSI began developing biocompatible 3-D devices for use in the field of guided tissue engineering in 1999. Among other achievements, the company won the poster competition at the 2009 Annual World Dental Congress of the FDI World Dental Federation in Singapore with its presentation on Alvelac, a PLGA and polyvinyl alcohol-based synthetic scaffold designed for the preservation of the alveolar socket after tooth extraction, which is currently available to dentists in India, Hong Kong, Taiwan and the UK.
The company also has research partnerships with dental institutions in the region, including the Saveetha University dental school in Chennai in India.
A subsidiary of biomedical company Strides Arcolab from Bangalore, Stelis Biopharma specialises in the development and production of medicine- and stem cell-loaded biomedical devices. According to its own figures, the publicly listed company currently maintains operations in six countries, including India and Malaysia.
