Hans Schikan is gestart als special envoy vaccins, zo meldt minister Hugo de Jonge (VWS) in een brief aan de Tweede Kamer. Schikan, die veel ervaring heeft in biopharma, gaat in beeld brengen hoe Nederland in de huidige omstandigheden de productie van coronavaccins nog verder kan versnellen. Zijn rapportage met concrete aanbevelingen voor opschaling van de vaccinproductie wordt medio maart 2021 verwacht.

Schikan (62) heeft ruime ervaring binnen de biofarmaceutische sector en brengt een breed en relevant netwerk met zich mee. Hij is onder meer lid van het Top Team van de Topsector Life Sciences & Health, was CEO van biotechonderneming Prosensa en is actief als voorzitter of commissaris bij verschillende binnen- en buitenlandse biopharmabedrijven.

Opschaling

De special envoy vaccins gaat in gesprek met relevante partijen in Nederland om de (productie)capaciteit van Covid-vaccins te inventariseren. De special envoy vaccins spreekt daarnaast met bedrijven die voor Nederland Covid-vaccins (gaan) leveren om te kijken of zij nu nog obstakels ervaren bij de opschaling van de productie en levering. Schikan ondersteunt samenwerking, dialoog en waar mogelijk brengt hij partijen bij elkaar om zo te faciliteren bij het sluiten van contracten in het kader van vaccinproductie. Een team van medewerkers van de ministeries van EZK en VWS ondersteunt de special envoy vaccins bij de uitvoering van zijn werkzaamheden.

Europees perspectief

Het werk van de special envoy vaccins heeft ook een Europees perspectief. De Europese Commissie heeft van het Europees Parlement eveneens de opdracht gekregen om de opschaling van (productie)capaciteit te onderzoeken. De Nederlandse special envoy vaccins is gevraagd de nationale inventarisatie te koppelen aan deze Europese opdracht.

Bron: Rijksoverheid (Persbericht)

DEB^x Medical, the Dutch medical technology company revolutionizing the management of chronic wounds, announced today that clinical data on the efficacy and safety of its novel desiccant debridement gel (Debrichem®) was published by three of its founders, Dr. Alberto Cogo, Dr. Bert J. Quint, and Dr. Carlo Alberto Bignozzi in the renowned medical journal, Wounds. In the peer-reviewed article, “Restarting the Healing Process of Chronic Wounds Using a Novel Desiccant: A Prospective Case Series”, the authors describe how this newly developed debridement gel with strong desiccating properties facilitates the removal of the biofilm and infection from the chronic wound bed, resulting in full granulation of all wounds treated within 12 weeks.

The initial open-label prospective case trial shows the agent’s desiccating effect on the wound bed, its effect on progression to granulation, and its side-effect profile. The case series involved ten patients (median age: 72.5 years) with chronic wounds in the lower extremity persisting for 6 to 52 weeks (median: 10 weeks) and covering a wound bed area of 8 to 140 cm² (median: 64 cm²). Included were the typical etiologies of chronic wounds (2 diabetic foot ulcers, 5 venous insufficiency leg ulcers, 1 revascularized ischemic leg ulcer, 1 vasculitic leg ulcer, 1 posttraumatic ulcer). Patients were treated with the debridement gel once and then followed up weekly for at least six months. All follow-ups included wound rinsing and re-dressing. The visit at which the wounds showed 100 % granulation was defined as the primary endpoint. All wounds proceeded to full granulation after a median time of 20.5 (7-78) days without the need for further intervention, such as surgical debridement or use of further medication. The only side effect of the chemical debridement treatment was transient pain (median time: 5 min; 1-180 min). Healthy skin surrounding the wound bed was degreased by the chemical debridement procedure but did not show redness, nodules or vesicles. In addition to the clinical data, the study presents in vitro data demonstrating the inhibition of bacterial growth induced through the debridement gel.

“Independent of the underlying morbidities, most chronic wounds do not heal due to persisting infections and their biofilm. In the case series presented, we demonstrate full granulation in all patients within 12 weeks after a one-time treatment with our novel desiccant gel. Given the low probabilities of chronic wound healing, this demonstrates the high efficacy of our debridement approach. When you reach granulation early in the treatment process you will save time and tissue by avoiding the wound to increase in size, bone involvement and the risk of amputation,” said Dr. Bert Quint, co-author and founding CEO of DEB^x Medical. “We feel very encouraged by our findings that greatly improve the outcomes for patients and doctors. A follow-up randomized clinical trial to investigate the clinical benefit of this innovative desiccant agent is currently ongoing.” Chronic wounds are defined as wounds that have not healed, at least in part, after 4 to 12 weeks. These difficult to treat wounds have different healing outcomes based on the underlying conditions of the patients, the size of the wound and the wound etiology. In a recently analyzed dataset of more than 620.000 chronic wounds, a total of 58.9 % had healed after 12 weeks, thereof 34.8 % diabetic ulcers, 26.5 % venous ulcers, 14.9 % pressure ulcers, and 2.4% arterial ulcers.

Source: DEBx Medical (Press release)