Made from nanofibrillar cellulose origined in Finnish birch trees, FibDex wound dressing is supposed to be UPM Biomedicals’ door opener to the medical device market. It’s the first clinical product of the company UPM and shows promising signs for future developments, such as cell therapy. The product was developed in collaboration with researchers from the University of Helsinki and surgeons and nursing staff from the Helsinki Burn Centre. The research and development began in 2007 and has so far led to three commercial products; including the GrowDex and GrowInk hydrogels used in drug development and 3D cell culture.
FibDex was granted the CE-marking in May 2019. This approval was a significant milestone, allowing the marketing and sale of the wound dressing in the EU. Registration with the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is also pending and will open the doors to US markets in due time. UPM is continually strengthening its role and patent portfolio in the biomedicals sector, one of the fastest growing fields, the significance of which has only been underlined during the past few months.