Arch Therapeutics Licenses Groundbreaking Intellectual Property on Hemostasis

Business Wire, April 28, 2008

Compositions That Stop Bleeding Promptly Could Revolutionize Surgical and Trauma Markets

CAMBRIDGE, Mass. -- Arch Therapeutics, a life science company developing and commercializing compositions that promptly stop or control bleeding, today announced it has finalized a license agreement with the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

The license provides Arch Therapeutics exclusive and non-exclusive commercialization rights to a range of patents and applications for technology that includes a family of compositions to control bleeding and the movement of other bodily substances.

Arch Therapeutics' compositions are clear, water-like, non-sticky materials that can be easily squirted through a syringe onto a bleeding wound. Arch Therapeutics expects the compositions to improve results in both surgical and trauma settings. The compositions should improve general outcomes for patients, decrease morbidity and mortality, and provide productivity and economic benefits in hospital environments and other settings. In early animal tests, the material has been used successfully to stop bleeding in the liver, spleen, femoral artery, eye and brain.

"Despite advances in patient care, the arsenal of tools that doctors use to stop bleeding still has its limitations. With our compositions, we expect to more efficiently control bleeding in surgical and trauma settings," said Rutledge Ellis-Behnke, research scientist in the MIT Department of Brain and Cognitive Sciences and a founder of Arch Therapeutics. Ellis-Behnke is a principle investigator on the research, and a co-author of the October 2006 Nanomedicine study that marked the first time nanotechnology has been used to achieve complete hemostasis, the process of halting bleeding from a damaged blood vessel.

The company is founded by Dr. Terrence Norchi, President & CEO; Steve Kelly, Chairman; and Ellis-Behnke. Prior to Arch Therapeutics, Dr. Norchi spent a decade in healthcare investing with a focus on pharmaceuticals, biotechnology and medical technology including being the lead portfolio manager of the second largest healthcare mutual fund in the world. Norchi also worked at Sanford C. Bernstein, Citigroup Asset Management and Putnam Investments and holds an MBA from MIT Sloan School of Management and a MD from NEOU College of Medicine. Steve Kelly, a serial entrepreneur, has helped build multiple New England-based companies He was most recently the founding CEO of Myomo, Inc., a MIT spinout that applies robotics to treat paralysis.

"Far from being a resolved problem, bleeding remains a leading cause of excess morbidity and mortality in hospitals, medical facilities and trauma settings around the world," said Norchi. "The current response to bleeding often puts additional demand on scarce or expensive resources within a constrained healthcare system. With our compositions, we plan to greatly improve patient care while also bringing significant economic benefits to the healthcare sector."

Unlike existing materials that are difficult to prepare, toxic, or inhibit healing, based on animal testing to date, Arch Therapeutics' novel synthetic products appear to be safe, easy to prepare and easy to use. Potential applications for the compositions include:

To stop bleeding: When applied to a wound, the material stops the bleeding promptly. Physicians interviewed believe that it will be valuable when used on diffuse oozing, visceral organ bleeding, and difficult to reach or visualize bleeding during surgery and trauma care.

To prevent bleeding: As a hemostatic agent applied prior to surgery, the compositions can proactively prevent bleeding, allowing surgeons to operate through it to control bleeding at the moment of its inception, as well as help maintain a clear field of vision.

"Discovering ways to control something so fundamental as bleeding has potentially huge implications for the medical field. The research and early milestones met by the Arch Therapeutics team are impressive and hold great promise for healthcare worldwide," said Floyd D. Loop, M.D., former head of the Cleveland Clinic and advisor to Arch Therapeutics.

Ellis-Behnke was a grant recipient from MIT's Deshpande Center for Technological Innovation. The center funds novel early-stage research and connects MIT's innovators with the resources needed to increase their commercial viability.