Some of the world’s most impactful companies were founded by college-aged visionaries — think Facebook, Microsoft and Dell. While it is unlikely that Brooklyn-based Cresilon will achieve levels of size and influence as grand as these aforementioned tech giants, the startup has come an impressively long way since being founded in 2010 by Joe Landolina, who was a first-year student at New York University at the time.
Cresilon has raised about $130 million in venture capital dollars and grown to comprise more than 80 employees — and last week, the company nabbed its second FDA clearance for human use. The FDA granted 510(k) clearance to Traumagel, the startup’s gel that can stop bleeding in just seconds, for temporary external use to control moderate to severe bleeding.
The company began nearly more than a decade ago when a 17 year-old Landolina extracted polymers from algae cell walls and discovered a matrix that would instantly bond to living tissue. He had the idea to apply this concept to a traumatic bleeding wound — he wanted to create a way to inject this gel into an actively bleeding wound to create a temporary seal.
Cresilon’s products were used only by veterinarians until June of last year, when the company’s
hemostatic gel — designed for the local management of bleeding wounds such as minor cuts and abrasions — was cleared by the FDA for human use.
Traumagel, the product the FDA cleared last week, is designed to control traumatic wounds’ bleeding in seconds when applied at the point of care.
“Traumagel works by instantly creating a mechanical barrier against bleeding at the site of the wound. That barrier then allows the patient to quickly produce their own natural clot that doesn’t become incorporated with Traumagel, allowing Traumagel to then be removed without disturbing the clot,” Landolina explained.
The product is useful in any instance of moderate to severe bleeding, including gunshot wounds, stab injuries and lacerations, he noted.
The product will be sold mainly to trauma hospitals, the military, and EMS agencies and first responders, Landolina added.
“Cresilon’s mission is to save lives. Our vision is to create a world without risk of bleeding out by providing faster and more reliable methods to stop bleeding in trauma care, surgery and animal health,” he declared.
To him, Cresilon’s gels stand out when compared to the many powders, gauzes and sponges used to stop bleeding today. These products are difficult to apply because a first responder must pack them physically, inch by inch, into a bullet wound, which can be both painful and risky, Landolina pointed out.
He thinks Cresilon’s ease of use helps differentiate its gels from other methods to control bleeding.
Photo: virusowy, Getty Images
