The pain that Paul Gratzer’s startup addresses is all too quantifiable and frightening: every 20 seconds, someone in the world loses a limb because of chronic foot ulcers caused by diabetes.

Gratzer is the founder and chief executive of DeCell Technologies Inc., which is commercializing a patented technology that could soon help to cure these ulcers quickly and affordably. The Halifax-based company has developed a natural scaffolding from human skin that can be placed over the ulcer to encourage the regeneration of skin cells and keep the wound clean to avoid infection. On Thursday, DeCell will be one of the contestants in the BioInnovation Challenge at BioPort Atlantic, at which a panel of experts will award $30,000 in in-kind services to one of six life sciences companies.

People with severe diabetes are prone to chronic foot ulcers, which physicians usually treat by cleaning and covering with moist gauze. During treatment the patient can’t walk on the affected foot and the healing process takes on average six months. If the ulcer becomes infected, the result could be an amputation.

“Diabetes is becoming an epidemic worldwide,” said Gratzer, who researched the technology at Dalhousie University’s School of Biomedical Engineering. “Why not treat the patient the best you can from the start to circumvent the chance of infection and amputation?”

DeCell has developed a small patch, ranging between one and four centimetres square, made from human skin that is processed to eliminate rejection, sterilized and fitted to go over the ulcer. Gratzer said that tissue banks have enough stock of human skin to supply DeCell.

There are similar products now available, but they can cost as much as $1450 per patch, and are often used only as a last resort. DeCell’s product is created through an automated process, which means the starting price will likely be in the $200 to $400 range, which still allows for a handsome margin for the company.  

DeCell has several factors in its favour as it moves toward commercialization, including the relative ease with which it can receive regulatory approval. The DeCell product would fall under the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and Health and Welfare Canada classification of minimally manipulated tissue, which involves shorter and less expensive approval processes than other medical devices.

The market for this product is vast. Transparency Research in Albany, New York, released a study last November estimating that 275 million people around the globe suffered from diabetes in 2010, and the number will rise to 350 million by 2030.

Of course, the technology would have applications beyond ulcers related to diabetes, such as helping to cure other wounds including pressure ulcers, venous ulcers and burns.

To date, Gratzer has been able to fund the project internally. He is now seeking funding of about $500,000. If he is successful, he believes he could leverage the funding to a total of about $2 million required to get to market, with non-dilutive financing from such sources as the Atlantic Canada Opportunities Agency or the National Research Council of Canada.