A French startup is using special polymers to help nerves heal better

Nearly 500,000 Americans They suffer from nerve injuries that require treatment every year, whether from an ill-conceived attempt at an avocado pit or an unfortunate woodworking accident. Many will never regain full feeling in their fingers. But a startup has developed a thick, viscous liquid that could change that, and is starting to use it with surgeons in the US.

The French company Tissium is working to replace medical sutures and supplement them with a liquid that adheres to tissues when exposed to light. A biopolymer made of fatty acids and glycerol — both found naturally in the body — the fluid acts like a splint to hold the nerves in place while the tissue repairs itself. It then decomposes after the body heals, leaving the nerves intact.

Peripheral nerves form a sprawling network of the nervous system, branching off from the brain and spinal cord to the rest of the body. When a nerve is cut, often through injuries involving knives or machines, both ends must be held in place while the nerve slowly repairs itself. If you fail to do so, you will experience symptoms ranging from tingling and no sensation at all to stabbing, electricity-like pain.

Aligning severed nerves requires tiny stitches, “a very precise technique,” ​​says Maria Pereira, Tissium co-founder and executive vice president, “so we’re trying to provide a new way and a better way to prepare peripheral nerves in a consistent way, in a less traumatic way, and with better outcomes for patients.”

The company conducted a trial on 12 patients in the United States who had damaged nerves in their fingers. All 12 people regained the ability to feel heat, pain, texture and light touch with their fingers, compared to just over 80 percent with the other techniques. None of them reported pain or complications associated with the device after a year. The treatment is already available for surgeons to purchase in the United States.

“Although more evidence is needed, it is exciting to see more advanced biomaterials and regenerative medical technologies at the modern surgeon’s disposal,” says Simran Channa, a surgeon, materials scientist and director of the Frontier Technologies Laboratory at the University of Cambridge. (Shana is not involved in Tesium’s work.)

Tissium has raised €30 million in private investment from venture capital firms and family offices to scale up commercialization, the company told WIRED exclusively, as well as €30 million in debt financing from the European Union’s lending arm, the European Investment Bank. The company will continue to manufacture its product, which received FDA marketing approval last year, in northern France.

The funds will also support the development of the application of the technology to other issues: Tissium expects to enroll about 200 patients in a US trial to help the body heal after hernia treatment. Surgeons heal a hernia by pushing the bulging organ or tissue back through the muscle wall and then reinforcing the area with stitches and mesh. Right now, “there may be some inconsistency in how the stitches are performed, which could impact the results,” says Pereira, who also serves as the company’s chief innovation officer. She adds that Tysium therapy can provide that consistency, which can in turn improve the recovery process.

While Pereira is finalizing the results of a European study testing the treatment on 78 patients undergoing hernia repair, Pereira says surgeons have been able to apply 100 percent viscous Tisium and that patients are showing signs of improved quality of life in terms of pain levels, recovery and activities, and a lower rate of hernia recurrence.

Tissium is also developing products for cardiovascular reconstruction, an initial application that Pereira envisioned while earning his PhD in bioengineering nearly 20 years ago. The company is preparing to launch a randomized pivotal trial in the US for its cardiovascular product, which will be supported by the new funding.