Stomach for success

Dr Brian Ward

Wellington-based Mesynthes Limited, headed by former vet Dr Brian Ward, has developed Endoform, which is made from the extracellular matrix (ECM) of sheep stomachs.
 
Components within the material have been shown to speed up healing and stimulate regrowth of the recipients’ own tissue. Mesynthes’ first product gained approval from the United States Food and Drug Administration (FDA) earlier this year.

Made up mostly of collagen, the ECM is the host environment for cells and holds the signals that direct cells to divide, differentiate and organise themselves into a specific form. Dr Ward had seen its potential for regeneration and healing during his years working as a veterinarian and in healthcare companies around the world.

IRL’s Dr Keryn Johnson was Dr Ward’s ideal scientific partner. Since 2001, Dr Johnson and his team have been researching how to extract beneficial components from the ECM as part of a project with Meat and Livestock Australia to convert meat processing waste into high-value bioactive products.

Dr Johnson’s expertise in analysing and processing tissue from the ECM proved invaluable.
 
“We began by testing both bovine and ovine tissue but within a week could see that sheep tissue was easier to work with and produced larger sheets of material,” says Dr Johnson.

The speed with which IRL was able to deliver results was crucial for Mesynthes, which was working to tight time frames to produce results. Within a week, Dr Johnson’s team had progressed from cutting sheets of tissue to processing whole organs by inflating them in what was effectively a dialysis bag to optimise extraction of the raw material.

IRL has helped Mesynthes identify and better understand the biological components in its products and fine-tune a device for separating the ECM from the sandwiching layers of muscle and epithelial cells.

More recently, IRL helped the company develop a commercial scale manufacturing process which uses biomimicry, in which the natural properties of the tissue are harnessed to aid its processing.
 
Mesynthes is located on IRL’s Gracefield campus and Dr Ward says the proximity to IRL staff and facilities has helped the company achieve its milestones and growth targets.

“But primarily it was the calibre of the science that gave us a huge leap up."