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April 8, 2004 Cook Biotech donates biomaterial to help wounded children in AfghanistanWEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. - Cook Biotech Inc., located in the Purdue Research Park, is sending some of its wound-healing biomaterial to Afghanistan to help children injured there during the war and its aftermath.
Cook Biotech, which manufactures numerous extracellular matrix (ECM)-based medical products, and one of its distributors, Healthpoint Ltd. of Fort Worth, Texas, have donated enough biomaterial medical products to treat hundreds of children. The product, OASIS(r) Wound Matrix, is being shipped to the Children's Hospital in Kabul and should arrive there sometime this month. "We are glad to have this opportunity to provide these advanced wound-care products to Afghanistan, but saddened that so many children need them," said Mark Bleyer, president of Cook Biotech. "Our hope is that these products can be used to reduce the pain and suffering for these unfortunate children." Earlier this year, Cook Biotech was contacted by Afghan-American Engineering LLC, a consulting firm working to rebuild the war-torn country by using international grants as a funding source and Afghan organizations as on-site contractors and/or operators. The firm requested medical equipment for the Kabul Children's Hospital, such as fluoroscopes, electrocauterizers, surgery equipment and skin graft supplies. One of the latest methods for grafting skin involves Cook Biotech's OASIS(r) Wound Matrix, which acts as a framework to support the remodeling of host tissue. This Purdue University-licensed ECM technology is a tissue-engineered medical device derived from animals and developed into strong, sterile, pliable sheets that provide a rich environment or "scaffold" for cell attachment and growth. "I learned about OASIS(r) from a friend, Tony San Pietro, a biology professor emeritus at Indiana University in Bloomington," said Lindsey V. Maness Jr., a principal in Afghan-American Engineering LLC of Denver, Colo., and an Indiana State University graduate. "AAE's President Hassan Alief and its chief executive officer Emamudin Ghiasi saw firsthand the horrible wounds and burns suffered by the children of Afghanistan. We are very grateful that Cook Biotech agreed to help get these critically needed medical supplies to the Children's Hospital in Kabul." Maness said great strides have been made in the two years since the Taliban was defeated and a new government installed by the U.S.-led coalition. "Still, the damage inflicted by two generations of war has been horrific, leaving a legacy of inadequate health care, distressed housing and woeful economic opportunities," Maness said. "This type of grass-roots assistance can help bring peace and reconstruction where it is sorely needed. While the 9/11 atrocity sparked a forcible change in government, the U.S. military effort is gradually focusing more on peaceful reconstruction. The Afghan people need all the help we can give them." Cook Biotech was founded in 1995 with shared ownership by Cook Group Inc., Purdue Research Foundation and Methodist Hospital/Clarian Health Partners to develop extracellular matrix technology and biological scaffolds for numerous medical purposes. Medical products utilizing Cook's licensed and patented ECM technology are currently marketed worldwide for use in wound management and surgical repair of soft tissues. Healthpoint Ltd. is the operating company of DFB Pharmaceuticals Inc., created to market branded pharmaceuticals, over-the-counter drugs and medical devices, particularly in the areas of tissue management, skin treatment, infection prevention and sterilization. Home to the largest university-affiliated, state-of-the-art business incubator facility in the nation, Purdue Research Park is located two miles north of Purdue University's West Lafayette campus. The 100-plus companies in the park employ more than 2,500 people. Writer: Jeanine Phipps, media relations, Purdue Research Park, (765) 494-0748, jeanine@purdue.edu Sources: Madia Milks, marketing communications coordinator, Cook Biotech Inc., (765) 497-3355, milks@cookbiotech.com Dwayne Dixon, group marketing director, Healthpoint Ltd., (800) 213-9574 ext. 4088, Dwayne.dixon@healthpoint.com Lindsey V. Maness Jr., principal, Afghan-American Engineering LLC, (303) 237-6590, lvmaness@comcast.net Related Web site: PHOTO CAPTION: A publication-quality photo is available at https://www.purdue.edu/uns/images/+2004/cookbiotech-afghan.jpg |
