ProTip receives European award for biomaterial research program

24 October 2011

Strasbourg-based ProTip SA, a developer of devices for dysfunctions of the larynx, has won the ESB Translational Research prize of the European Society for Biomaterials.

 The prize, sponsored by the Swiss Society for Biomaterials, is designed to support scientific efforts in translational research. It was awarded at the ESB annual congress in Dublin last month.
 
This prize has been awarded for a research program launched by ProTip in 2010, aimed at developing a trachea implant made from a biodegradable microporous polymer and macroporous titanium.

This program is being led by Dr. Nihal Engin Vrana, a post-doctorate researcher specialized in the development of biomaterials that is now working for ProTip. The program is also in association with the Inserm Biomaterials and Tissue Engineering laboratory in Strasbourg. This distinction confirms ProTip’s proven potential for developing an innovative solution based on porous titanium for thousands of patients who have undergone a partial or total laryngectomy.
 
“We are very proud to have been awarded this particular prize, as it is a strong mark of peer recognition,” said Dr. Nihal Engin Vrana, who presented the ProTip project at the ESB congress. “The award demonstrates recognition for our ability to undertake a research program that generates concrete solutions for patients, while maintaining high scientific standards. It is also proof that ProTip knows how to balance its short-term corporate goals with the long-term scientific objectives of Inserm.” Inserm is the French National Health and Medical Research Institute.
 
“This reward proves that, with high enough focus on relevant and the right research activities, a young firm like ProTip can play an important role in a market as demanding and competitive as that of biomaterials,” said the chairman of ProTip SA, Maurice Bérenger.