Gothenburg-based startup Amferia raises €1.37 million (SEK 15.4 million) from Almi Invest, Chalmers Ventures, and several angel investors. The startup develops and markets new medical devices with an emphasis on antibacterial products. The funding will help the startup launch of Amferia’s first product which is a wound care dressing with a patented hydrogel that actively combats infections and kills antibiotic-resistant bacteria.
Amferia was founded in Gothenburg, Sweden in 2016 by three PhD researchers Saba Atefyekta, Anand Kumar Rajasehkaran and Martin Andersson, conceived a new class of antimicrobial material while working at Chalmers University of Technology. By late 2017, the first patent was filed, the hydrogel had been proven to kill bacteria — including numerous resistant bacteria — and was safely used in biological environments without toxicity. Most importantly, the founders agreed their first product using the new technology should address wound care.
Amferia’s innovative, anti-microbial solution can be used on wide-ranging wounds from simple skin injuries, post-operative wounds to chronic wounds and trauma / burn wounds. The WHO predicts that antibiotic-resistant infections, including those from wounds could become one of the leading causes of both illness and death over the next ten years.
“I am grateful to all our committed investors: Every year, nearly 1 million people die globally because of infections caused by antibiotic-resistant bacteria and at least a quarter of those infections begin with a simple wound on the skin. Amferia’s wound care solution is a game-changer and will save lives. The resistance problem is even more challenging within the animal health sector.”, says Agneta Edberg, Chairperson of Amferia.
Amferia’s patented material, an antimicrobial amphiphilic hydrogel, has been developed through several years of research in collaboration with Chalmers University of Technology and contains molecules inspired by body’s own immune system. The material instantly kills all bacteria (even antibiotic resistant) by binding to and disrupting their cell membranes, all without damaging the body’s own cells or entering the bloodstream. The first product from this technology is a hydrogel wound-care dressing for dry-to-low exuding wounds, while the material is also being investigated for development in several other areas, including sprays for deep wounds, and coatings for implants and a variety of catheters. In September of 2022, Amferia launched its first wound dressings for animal health in Sweden and plan on expanding across Europe during 2023. In parallel, the company is preparing to file for regulatory clearance in the US for human health.
The wound care market currently generates sales for over US $ 2 billion globally with a projected CAGR of 5 %. However, existing alternatives on the market often contain antibiotics that carry the risk of causing resistance or antiseptics that may harm body cells and negative environmental impact.
“The investment enables us to perform three key tasks: scale up and launch our products for animal health in Europe, file for FDA clearance of the application for human health and thirdly initiate more clinical studies in both market segments. This ambition is supported by the fact that we already have our first product on the market for animal wound care in Sweden”, says Anand Kumar Rajasekharan, CEO of Amferia.
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