Report
Teaser, summary, work performed and final results
Periodic Reporting for period 1 - VENDA NATU-haft (COHESIVE BANDAGES BASED ON NATURAL FIBRES, WITH ANTIMICROBIAL AND HYDROPHOBIC PROPERTIES BY MLSE TECHNOLOGY)
Teaser
Founded in 1956, Calvo Izquierdo S.L is a family-owned company devoted to the design and manufacture of bandages and textiles for the human health industry, mainly cohesive bandages.Cohesive support bandages are a kind of bandages that are able to adhere to themselves, but not...
Summary
Founded in 1956, Calvo Izquierdo S.L is a family-owned company devoted to the design and manufacture of bandages and textiles for the human health industry, mainly cohesive bandages.
Cohesive support bandages are a kind of bandages that are able to adhere to themselves, but not to skin or clothes. They are generally used by professionals of the sanitary sector, for fixing dressings and immobilization splints on different parts of the body, or as protective bandages in sports playing.
Carrying a bandage can be comfortable when there is no humidity. However, the microclimate in contact with the skin should be dry and pleasant, not only to abide by the treatment instructions, but also to avoid the feeling of heat, friction between the skin and the bandage, and injuries and skin diseases. Friction increases with humidity which in turn increases the risk of skin irritation and the formation of blisters.
The persistence of a humid microclimate can also promote certain skin diseases and injuries. It aggravates when patients must wear bandages for long periods of time, as occurs with cohesive supporting bandages. For this reason, the possibility of conferring cohesive bandages with antimicrobial and hydrophobic properties, without loosing breathability, has become of great interest for the company Calvo Izquierdo S.L.
Current solutions are based mainly in the use of chemical surface treatments and/or synthetic fibres, which can modify the final performance and the feel to touch of the bandage, reducing patient/user comfort and wellbeing.
Overall VENDA NATU-haft objectives
VENDA NATU-haft aims to change the landscape of cohesive bandages by introducing a novel antimicrobial and hydrophobic cohesive bandages based on natural fibres and produced by an innovative manufacturing process that incorporates the Multiplexed Laser Surface Enhancement (MLSE). MLSE is able to produce surface modifications at nanoscale, providing with functional properties without significant modification of material appearance. Our new cohesive bandage will offer the following benefits to the end-users:
- Hydrophobic and antibacterial products, thus reducing the possibility of infections.
- Due to the elimination of conventional synthetic fibres and coatings, the bandage will be breathable, maintaining its original performance.
- Very kind to skin improving wearing comfort unlike current solutions that are not 100% based on natural fibres.
Work performed
Between May and October 2015 we have implemented the activities planned for SME instrument Phase I. The results of the feasibility study are overall positive and encourage us to pursue a subsequent application for Phase 2 of the SME Instrument. After finishing this Feasibility Study we have concluded with a positive outcome from all the activities performed together with a preliminary action plan as well as a rough estimation of the timing and budget required to accomplish VENDA NATU-haft technical and commercial objectives.
1. Technical plan to implement MLSE technology for the manufacturing of functional cohesive bandages including technical product development and marketing activities to achieve the sales forecast.
These activities to be performed in a subsequent Phase II have been organized in Work Packages as follows:
 WP1. MLSE technical design for functional bandages
 WP2. Full scale up for functional bandages
 WP3. Functional cohesive bandages prototypes and testing
 WP4. Validation
 WP5. Exploitation and Dissemination
 WP6. Project Management
2. Freedom to Operate (FTO) analysis.
MLSE technology is quite widely used general engineering applications, primarily on metal and polymeric discrete components. Regarding functional cohesive bandages, currently there are not any patent (National, European or International) in this field.
Thus at present there is a Freedom to Operate in Europe for functional bandages by MLSE like VENDA NATU-haft ones.
In addition, VENDA NATU-haft product will be sold under OEM licences to other companies.
3. Financial Review and Business Plan.
We have implemented an updated business plan for VENDA NATU-haft that includes a complete overview of the company background, competitors analysis, strategies for operations, go to market strategy and management as well as market projection and a financial and viability plan.
As is has already been explained, the European potential market size for VENDA NATU-haft is around 94.039 M€ with an annual growth of 2%, for cohesive support bandages. In the case of the Spanish market, it size is around 9.439 M€. CALVO has a market share of 1,89% and 14,65% in the European and Spanish markets, respectively.
Even keeping in mind the great possibilities of VENDA NATU-haft products, due to its competitive advantages, it has developed a conservative forecast, taking also into account, the capacity of the company to achieve a sustainable development. Definitively the forecast made is increasing our current market shares around 5%.
In addition, it has been taken into account that new cohesive support bandages will replace progressively current ones and also that 60% of them are sold under public agreements which are multiannual.
4. Consortium set up
We have closed a collaboration agreement with the company owner of the MLSE technology for its adaptation and implementation in our current process. MTiX company will participate as subcontractor for Phase II.
In addition we will need the collaboration of several international laboratories for testing in order to validate the VENDA NATU-haft functional bandages.
5. Risk assessment
We have reviewed the risks related to both commercial and technical progress of VENDA NATU-haft for the subsequent implementation of the Phase 2.
Final results
Our objective is the commercialization of functional bandages, as well the complete substitution of the current cohesive bandages (with latex or latex free) by cohesive bandages based on gecko-like patterns.
With regard to this objective, CALVO intends to implement an innovative manufacturing process that incorporate the Multiplexed Laser Surface Enhancement Technology (MLSE), for the treatment of our cotton and viscose based products (bandages). In the Phase 2 of VENDA NATU-haft project we will adapt the MLSE configuration according to the identified need to be suitable to our product. After the implementation of the MLSE technology in our current process, we will optimize the parameters of the MLSE to provide with functional properties to our bandages, as well as to produce gecko-like structures on the fibres in order to avoid the use of an adhesive. The validation of the functional bandages will provide no commercial products up to now at competitive prices.
This way, VENDA NATU-haft latest goal is to change the landscape of cohesive bandages by introducing a novel antimicrobial and hydrophobic cohesive bandage based on natural fibres. Once developed, our new cohesive bandage will offer the following benefits to the end-users:
- Hydrophobic and antibacterial products, thus reducing the possibility of infections (currently, bandages with these properties can only be produced by using synthetic fibres or coatings).
- Due to the elimination of conventional synthetic fibres and coatings, the bandage will be breathable, maintaining its original performance.
- Adhesive free cohesive bandages due to gecko-like patterns on the fibres surface by MLSE.
- Very kind to skin improving wearing comfort unlike current solutions that are not 100% based on natural fibres.
Website & more info
More info: http://www.calvoizquierdo.es.