Inventors of
Wound-Be-Gone®?
Jirí Labský, PhD. (*1936)
He has written more than 100 articles for international magazines
and 55 patent applications. In 2002 he received the prestigious Cesk
á hlava (Czech Brain) award together with Karel Smetana, MD.
Labský made discoveries in the 1960s that led to the manufacturing
of soft contact lenses. He contributed to the development of Wound-Be-Gone®
with his proposal to incorporate sterically hindered amines, which
he called "traps for free oxygen radicals," into certain
polymers. He also developed a means for bringing this idea to completion.
Jirí Vacík, PhD. (*1938)
During the 1990s, he served as head of the Department of Hydrogels
for Medical and Technical Uses at the Institute for Macromolecular
Chemistry of the Academy of Sciences of the Czech Republic. He ran
the team developing the Wound-Be-Gone® product. During his 40
plus years working at the Institute for Macromolecular Chemistry,
he has published 58 articles and has authored 47 patent applications.
Pavel Hošek, MD (*1948)
General practitioner who first tested the practical application of
the gel.
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From Laboratory to Mass Production
Research to develop the gel sold today under the Wound-Be-Gone brand name began in the first half of the 1990s. However, the research at the time would not have been possible without earlier studies by the Institute of Macromolecular Chemistry of the Academy of Science of the Czech Republic.
Wound-Be-Gone owes its existence to the discovery of hydrophilic polymers based on poly (2-hydroxyethyl methacrylate). This discovery by Professor Wichterle and his team is the basis of the chemical composition used to create Wound-Be-Gone.
The research team made a major breakthrough in the mid-1990s when it began to realize the idea of Jirí Labský, Ph.D, who integrated sterically hindered amines, so-called "free radical traps," into specific polymers that the human body can recognize. Free radicals, which are created in abundance during tissue damage, react with these amines or with their oxidation derivatives. This reaction neutralizes free radicals, thus preventing their otherwise aggressive impact on the body.
The use of polymer matrices has a number of advantages. They are composed of large macromolecules which are interconnected. This prevents the molecules from penetrating the skin and invading the body. Thus, they remain on the wound's surface. This allows our active ingredient to work undisturbed
In 1997, the invention received a Czech patent, but the process of developing an accessible product was far from over. Transferring laboratory results into a format that could work in large-scale production was very difficult. The research team had to answer to a number of questions in order to optimize of the chemical structure. This range of problems brought a need to find balance between the product's effectiveness and its cost, i.e., viable mass production.
The Institute of Macromolecular Chemistry of the Academy of Sciences of the Czech Republic is the patent-holder. The Institute has granted rights for manufacturing the product (sold under the registered trademark, Wound-Be-Gone) to Wake Pharma US, Inc. based on an exclusive contract. Wake Pharma Ltd. and Wake Pharma US, Inc. have exclusive sales and marketing rights for the product.
The Institute of Macromolecular Chemistry
The product for healing infected wounds, today sold under the brand name, Wound-Be-Gone, was developed by the Institute of Macromolecular Chemistry of the Academy of Sciences of the Czech Republic. This top scientific research center has been at forefront of worldwide science and research for over half a century. It is home to research that led to one of the most important inventions of all time - contact lenses.
The history of the Institute of Macromolecular Chemistry began in the 1950s.
A successful scientific symposium on macromolecules in 1957 provided the impetus for the establishment of a specialized institute located in Prague, devoted to this fast-growing scientific field.
The Institute was founded in 1959 as part of the Czech Academy of Sciences. Its first director was Professor Otto Wichterle, a man who is forever tied to the discovery of soft contact and intraocular lenses.
Under the support of Professor Wichterle, the Institute focused its studies on polymer chemistry and physics. The Institute emphasized the balance between theoretical research and the practical use of research results. The fact that Prague is the only city in the world to host the International Symposium on Macromolecules (IUPAC) three times (1957, 1965 and 1992) attests to the truly exceptional status of the Institute of Macromolecular Chemistry.
The Institute's scientific and research activities continue today. As of January 1, 2007 it bears the legal status of a public research institute. In recent years, the Institute has devoted its work to three key areas: research on bio-macromolecular systems, research on dynamics and molecular and supra-molecular polymer self-organization, and research on the issue of preparation, characterization, and uses for new polymers with manageable structures and features. The Institute also continues to emphasize educational activities.
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