Imbed Biosciences, a developer of advanced biomaterials and soft tissue repair devices, announced today that it has signed a distribution agreement with Spartan Medical. The distribution agreement will provide customers in the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) and Department of Defense (DoD) access to both Microlyte® Matrix and Microlyte® Surgical product lines through Spartan Medical’s Distribution and Pricing Agreement (DAPA), and VA IDIQ Contract with the US federal government.
The Veterans Health Administration (VHA) is the largest integrated health care system in the US, providing care at nearly 1,300 healthcare facilities to over 9 million Veterans enrolled in the VA health care program. Accessing this significant federal marketplace in partnership with Spartan Medical, a Service-Disabled Veteran Owned Business (SDVOSB), marks an important commercial step forward for Imbed Biosciences.
“The partnership with Spartan Medical will accelerate the use of Microlyte® Surgical within VA Hospitals and DOD medical centers on procedures at risk for surgical site infection. We are proud to align with such a strong and highly-regarded partner,” said Chris Lyon, Imbed’s Vice President of Sales.
Imbed Biosciences’ product portfolio consists of innovative advanced wound products for use across all wound types: chronic, surgical, traumatic, and burn wounds. In chronic wounds, healing is frequently subverted by the presence of bacteria and bioburden in the wound. Certain populations, like diabetics, have impaired circulation which results in difficulty clearing infections by the immune system. Microlyte® Matrix contains antimicrobial silver which helps reduce bioburden in the wound and has been correlated clinically with improved chronic wound healing. Notably, diabetes occurs at twice the rate in VA patients as it does in the general population in the US.
For surgical, traumatic, and burn wounds, microbial contamination is also a threat to healing. Across all specialties, surgical site infections (SSI) occur at a 2.6% rate. Infection rates are much higher in trauma and burn wounds. The typical SSI results in an additional 7-10 day hospital stay and a cost of treatment as high as $30,000, representing a significant cost to the US government at the nation’s 171 VA Medical Centers and 50 DOD hospitals and inpatient facilities. To help combat SSI, Microlyte® Surgical also contains bacteria-killing antimicrobial silver, and reduction of bacterial bioburden in surgical and burn wounds may reduce microbial colonization and risks of infection in those wounds.
“The expansion of Microlyte® Surgical distribution with a partner like Spartan Medical will further enable the important work that Imbed is doing to reduce the incidence and associated costs of surgical site infections in the US. We are particularly grateful for the opportunity to serve America’s wounded warriors and veterans through this partnership,” said Ankit Agarwal, Imbed Biosciences’ President and CEO.
“Spartan Medical is honored to join forces with market innovators like Imbed Biosciences, focused on bringing game-changing technologies that reduce costs, while improving efficiencies and patient care, to our fellow veterans and wounded warriors. Ensuring we can bring the very best, to those who have served, is simply part of our Spartan DNA,” said Vince Proffitt, Spartan Medical’s President and CEO.
