ABS Medicare, a company promoted by former BARC scientist, Dr.Advait Majmudar, has commenced marketing of BARC's patented sterile hydrogel used for medicinal purposes particularly for burn and injury dressings. ABS has branded its hydrogel as Hizel. The dressings are available in the sizes 6cm x 6 cm costing Rs. 45, 6 x 12 costing Rs. 70, 12 x 12 costing Rs. 110 and 25 x 30 costing Rs. 425. "Hydrogel-based dressings cost at least 10 times the price abroad," said Dr. Majmudar.

The technology was invented jointly by Dr. Majmudar and Dr.Lalit Varshney at BARC. A technology transfer agreement of Rs. 5 lakh was signed between ABS Medicare and BARC for a period of seven years. In addition to this, ABS will pay a royalty of 5 per cent to BARC for the sale of every hydrogel.

"These dressings have water content in excess of 90 per cent and have capacity to absorb wound exudates. They have a cooling effect on the burn wound and thus reduce the severity of the pain. It further provides moist environment, soften any slough, provides sterile cover and regulates the oxygen supply to the wound site to enable faster healing," said Dr. Sunil Sabarwal, a senior scientist connected with the project. All ingredients used in the process are low cost, biocompatible and are locally available or can be readily imported under OGL.

Hydrogels for medicinal purposes are prepared from hydrophilic polymers like Polyvinyl Pyrrolidone (PVP), Polyacrylamide, and Polyvinyl Alcohol (PVA). Molecules of these materials can be cross-linked to form a three dimensional network structure, which can hold large quantities (10-15 times the dry weight) of water.

"Cross-linking can be achieved by either chemical means or by gamma irradiation. Former method has a major disadvantage of leaving behind some toxic residues of chemical initiators in the product. In addition the gel so produced has to be cleaned and sterilized subsequently. On the other hand, radiation processing is a clean process in which gel formation and sterilization are accomplished simultaneously in one step. This not only results in cost reduction but also gives high quality product," said Dr. Sabarwal.

The world over, hydrogels are being used increasingly for treatment of burn injuries as well as in plastic surgery on donor areas. However, high cost of the product and use of a large number of synthetic additives in some variants has limited its use. Majority of the hydrogels available abroad use PVP as the base material. The hydrogel has the property of adhering firmly yet gently to the healthy surface. It does not adhere to wet wound surface. This results in painless dressing. The narcotic tissues in the wound stick to the inner surface of the hydrogel and come out with the dressing. Being transparent, the progress of the wound healing can be observed without removing the dressing. In many cases, the use of hydrogels has been observed to prevent scar formation as well as to flatten old scars.

ABS has initiated active marketing of Hizel about two months back. It has already tied up with distribution companies for marketing Hizel. "We have good responses from markets like Gujarat, Mumbai and Delhi," said Dr. Majmudar. ABS is in the process of marketing Hizel across the southern states and other cities in India.