RALEIGH, N.C., July 17 /PRNewswire/ -- Micell Technologies has received a 2006 R&D 100 Award for its breakthrough innovation e-RESS technology. The R&D 100 Awards are presented annually by R&D Magazine to honor the world’s 100 most important scientific and technical innovations. Micell shares this award with Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, a U.S. Department of Energy laboratory, managed by Battelle.
e-RESS (e for electrostatic, RESS for Rapid Expansion from Supercritical Solution) is a new surface modification method involving supercritical fluids to create drug-eluting coatings for cardiovascular stents and other medical devices. The basic technology was jointly created by Micell and scientists at Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, and has been exclusively licensed to Micell.
“We are honored to have our technology recognized with this prestigious award,” said Arthur J. Benvenuto, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Micell Technologies. “New surface modification technologies have the potential to provide important advances to the medical device marketplace. As an alternative to current solvent-based methods, Micell’s technology provides several unique capabilities for creating drug-eluting coatings for medical devices.”
Until now, the uses of RESS have been limited because there has been no easy way to collect the nanoparticles or control their direction. e-RESS changes this by transferring charge onto the particle surfaces, facilitating attraction and directional control of the particle delivery to the surface of the medical device.
Micell’s processes utilizing the e-RESS technology create an opportunity to deliver the next generation of drug-eluting stents that can provide control over drug morphology and may allow manufacturing processes to apply discrete and independent therapies within a single, multi-therapy coating.
About Micell
Micell Technologies is a privately-held, early-stage biomedical company dedicated to advancing combination product therapies in the cardiovascular, orthopedic, and drug-delivery areas. The Company’s patented processes and methods for medical device surface modification using supercritical fluids are focused on improvements to current polymer based drug-eluting technologies. To learn more, please visit our website at www.micell.com
About Pacific Northwest National Laboratory
Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL) is a Department Of Energy, Office of Science laboratory that solves complex problems in energy, national security, the environment and life sciences by advancing the understanding of physics, chemistry, biology and computation. PNNL employs 4,200 staff, has an annual budget of more than $725 million, and has been managed by Ohio-based Battelle since the lab’s inception in 1965. To learn more, please visit PNNL’s website at www.pnl.gov/
Micell Technologies
CONTACT: James McClain, Chief Technology Officer of Micell Technologies,+1-919-313-2111; or Mary Anne Wuennecke, Media Relations of PacificNorthwest National Laboratory, +1-509-375-2447
