About a year ago we wrote about a rapidly growing start-up from Silicon Valley that developed a very unusual technology, now widely used for wound management in a variety of situation. This is sort-of a reunion for us with Oleg Siniaguine, Ph.D, president and founder of OSNovative Systems in Santa Clara, California, who was happy to give us a better overview of self-adaptive dressings and how the company is progressing.
Medgadget: Oleg, let’s refresh one more time, since this is still a very unique and innovative approach to wound care. What exactly is your product?
Oleg Siniaguine: Our product is a conceptually new advanced wound dressing for chronic, traumatic and surgical wounds. The idea of the product is simple — the dressing is functionally self-adaptive to any wound in any healing stage, from highly draining infected wound to completely healed: “One-for All” concept. The dressing automatically changes its functions driven by the feedback from the ever changing wound. It assures an optimal healing micro-environment and steers the wound toward healing.
Medgadget: Is it a new therapy or technology break-through?
Siniaguine: I would say that it is a break-through technological solution that bridges the gap between proven scientific principles of wound healing and efficient practical implementation.
Unlike current single function static wound care products, our product addresses the whole non-homogeneous system consisting “underlying tissue/wound/wound dressings/environment”. Nobody can predict changes happening continually in this system after wound dressing placement and during wearing it. Self-Adaptive dressing is capable of dealing with this continually changing system and other emerging requirements that may be unknown at the dressing placement time.
Consequently, a clinician needs only one type of “smart” self-adaptive dressing to heal any wound. Imagine a simplification of the wound care, as currently a clinician has to deal with confusing plethora of various single function dressing materials, each material is static and suitable only for a narrow range of wound types or conditions.
Medgadget: This is a very sophisticated and unique approach. A dramatic simplification of wound care is obvious. Which practical problem are you attempting to solve with it: the clinical problems or wound care provider economic issues?
Siniaguine: Both.
Medgadget: Sounds great. So how exactly will this help the patient?
Siniaguine: Better healing, less pain and unprecedented wound drainage management change patient lives and make patients mobile again.
Medgadget: And how does this economically support the healthcare provider?
Siniaguine: Great savings on materials and logistics, because a provider may use only 1 dressing type instead of a dozen of different material categories and about 500 brands that are currently being used in the field. Lower combined labor and material costs due to reduced frequency of dressing changes and shorter healing time. Lower operational expenses due to simplified and streamlined protocols, less documentation, staff retraining, mistakes, etc.
Medgadget: Sounds like a dream come true. And the timing is perfect to introduce something revolutionary like this, since we are in the middle of the fast approaching health reform. How do you think your self-adaptive technology will play into it?
Siniaguine: Our technology perfectly fits into this rapidly changing environment and might actually be one of the major things to help wound care providers survive it.
Medgadget: That is quite a statement. How?
Siniaguine: As we all know, the reimbursement payment system is being changed from pay-per-service to pay-per-performance. Our product allows wound care providers drastically raise the operational efficiency of their business which will prevent them from failing to meet tight economic conditions and avoid penalties for poor performance. We also help them significantly improve the staff productivity, quality of the treatments, and patient satisfaction, so they can meet the high-rating requirements and be eligible for higher payments.
Medgadget: It sounds like you are doing well. What changed for your business since we last saw each other?
Siniaguine: Well, a lot has happened. Our Self-Adaptive dressing really became the “it” product in the industry. Medical community is aware of the product, we have developed a great following both online and at medical conferences. We constantly receive feedback and testimonies from amazed professionals and grateful patients.
And yes, I am aware that this all sounds a little “too-good-to-be true”. That was one of the hurdles that we had to overcome this year during product introduction to the market. However, we successfully did it and gained the trust of medical professionals throughout the US. Our product has now healed tens of thousands of wounds, it is carried by all major distributors in the US. Our sales are growing exponentially.
Medgadget: Congratulations. So what is next for your business?
Siniaguine: Soon our product will be distributed internationally in Europe and Asia. An expansion of product line is taking place, as well. A new product will be introduced soon, targeting hospitals and acute care settings. Traumatic and battlefield lifesaving products are also in the works.
Medgadget: Is there anything else you’d like to add before we close?
Siniaguine: A lot of information about our product and clinical experience is available on our product website www.AnyWound.com. I would recommend also to look at our Facebook page www.facebook.com/osnovation for customer and patient testimonies, and some fun.
And yes, we are growing fast but the market is huge. We would like to welcome any interested parties for potential cooperation.
Medgadget: Thank you for your time, Oleg.
Siniaguine: I was very happy to be here, thank you.
Product page: ENLUXTRA…
Flashback: Enluxtra Self-Adaptive Dressing