Company news: Life saving haemorrhage control from South Africa

It is well documented that South Africa has at present a particularly high level of violent crime, motor vehicle accidents and other trauma related injuries. This coupled with over-extended state medical resources and a decline in availability of blood stocks, result in an unacceptably high rate of possibly preventable deaths, by any standards. Despite advances in medical technology, uncontrolled hemorrhage is still one of the leading causes of death in the world.

HemCon®, which stands for Hemorrhage Control, has developed a bandage that stops even the most severe arterial bleeding in just 2 minutes, and was specifically designed to address these preventable deaths.

The HemCon® Bandage is designed for use by self administration and by first responders in law enforcement, military, emergency medical, in-surgery, civilian and other out-of-hospital environments where the rapid control of bleeding to save the person's life is of critical importance.

The HemCon Bandage® is primarily comprised of Glacial Acetic Acid, Chitosan and deionized water. Chitosan has a positive charge and attracts negatively charged red blood cells. The red blood cells create a seal over the wound as they are drawn into the bandage, forming a very tight, adherent clot. When the HemCon® product comes into contact with blood, it becomes extremely sticky and adheres to the wound, thereby sealing it and, more importantly, stopping the bleeding. In addition by stopping the bleeding fast, the dressing prevents the patient from going into shock from blood loss, thus preventing organ failure and dramatically improving the patient's recovery time, thereby minimises the need for exorbitantly expensive, related and extended critical medical care or rehabilitation. The bandage also forms an anti-bacterial barrier and aids in preventing infections.

The HemCon® bandages are sealed in sterile vacuum packs and contain no human or animal clotting factors and have been used successfully to treat patients taking anticoagulant medications without altering underlying drug regimens. The bandage can be applied with one hand and is easily removed by soaking the bandage in saline solution or water.

South African Key Opinion Leaders in the Trauma, Casualty, Surgical, Vascular, Haematology and Gynaecology fields, indicate the following areas of concern.

•Time to application of treatment - the quicker you can apply treatment, the better the prognosis.
•To prevent bleed-out - thus saving the patient's life.
•Total cost of medical care - the costs in saving a patient after severe hemorrhage are astronomical. Stopping the bleeding whether at the scene of the incident, which can be self-administered, or in-theatre, with a HemCon® product not only dramatically increases the chances of saving the person's life, but vastly reduces the costs for post-trauma treatment.
•Quality of On-scene trauma care
•In-patient care with expensive products such as blood volume expanders, synthetic and blood products, consumables such as cannulae, dressings, etc,
•Costly helicopter or fixed-wing casualty evacuation costs,
•Costs of extended theatre time,
•Costs of extended ICU time and
•Costs of extended recovery and in-ward time.

The key element here is that while HemCon® bandages are saving lives they are also saving money for all involved - the patient, the Healthcare Provider and the Health Insurance Company.

Summary of HemCon Features

•HemCon® is FDA approved, is MCC approved locally, Internationally ISO certified and has attained its European CE marking.
•It will stop even the most severe bleeding within approximately 2 minutes.
•It can be used in areas, such as the groin and throat, where a traditional pressure dressing or tourniquet cannot be applied.
•It is biocompatible.
•It forms an antibacterial barrier at he wound site, reducing the potential for infection.
•It actively kills bacteria and has a documented success average of 90.90% in eliminating over 25 different types of active bacteria which lead to secondary wound infection.
•It works by adhering aggressively to tissue surfaces when in contact with blood. This adhesive-like action forms a strong flexible barrier that seals and stabilizes the wound surface.
•HemCon® bandages are non-heat producing. And no adverse reactions have been reported to date with over 1 Million dressings already in circulation.
•They are easily removed with saline or water.
•They work successfully on people who are haemophiliacs or on anti-coagulants.
•They are proven to be highly effective in preventing 97% of deaths from hemorrhaging in studies conducted by the US Military.
•The HemCon® bandages are currently being used by all of the US, UK and Australian Military troops in Iraq and Afghanistan and is standard issue to the Israeli Military.
•It is vacuum packed under sterile conditions in a silver foil envelope.
•In 2004 HemCon was voted as one of the top 10 Medical Military inventions. It has been featured by CNN, Readers Digest, and USA Today and is also currently carry aboard Air-Force One and held in the White House.

HemCon Medical Technologies Inc was founded on one simple premise, to save lives.

HemCon Inc. partnered with the United States Army to develop and manufacture this innovative technology to control bleeding and infection resulting from trauma. HemCon attained 510(k) FDA approval within 24 hours and a patent for 20 years, have attained their CE marking also their ISO 13485 rating.

HemCon Inc.'s Research and Development facilities in Portland, Oregon, are state of the art and are run under the strictest ISO qualification guidelines. HemCon has since invested over $15 million in research and development and continue to invest a substantial amount into future product development. In 2005, the US Army Surgeon General after reviewing all available potential haemostatic solutions, mandated that every soldier in Iraq and Afghanistan carry at least one HemCon® bandage, each combat lifesaver three and that each medic carry five. The HemCon® bandage is now used in the civilian environment by first responders, trauma units, surgeons, dentist's vets, law enforcement personal and private security organizations etc, and is now available within these sectors in South Africa and into the African Continent.

Mkhuseli Trauma Products (Pty) Ltd is a South African registered holding company who acquired the exclusive distribution rights for the HemCon® range of products in South Africa and Africa.

Mkhuseli means ‘Protector' or ‘Guardian Angel' in the nGuni dialect.

Mkhuseli have recognised in HemCon Inc in the USA a willingness to share knowledge, a dynamic product range backed with a concomitant management team, staff complement and corporate ethos and were instrumental in initially registering HemCon with the SA Medicines Control Council (MCC) in South Africa. Please also visit us on http://www.hemcon.co.za.