The key to this biotech’s tilt at US fortune is pure pigs

afr.com:

An Australian regenerative medicine company is preparing for a major expansion in the US with a unique “collagen Velcro” sourced from high-quality pigs that repairs severed nerves.

The tiny collagen patch, manufactured in a lab south of Perth, has the ability to bind nerves back together without the need for surgical stitching, with the potential to restore function to once-paralysed limbs.

Orthocell chair John Van Der Wielen (left) and CEO Paul Anderson.  Trevor Collens

“You can’t just use any old pig,” Orthocell chief executive Paul Anderson said.

“We have this incredible island country with these incredible biological borders, we’ve got these really clean herds and as a result of that, the collagen that we extract from those animals is of the highest quality.”

He described the technology as life-changing, with dozens of surgeries carried out already in Australia on paralysed patients.

“Think of it like a car chamois that’s 2.5 centimetres, and that’s used to wrap around a nerve and negate the need for doctors to suture that nerve together, which plunges a needle into that delicate nerve tissue,” he said.

“It’s a bit like a piece of collagen Velcro that wraps around the nerve.”

Orthocell has tapped Crown Perth chairman and former HBF boss John Van Der Wielen to guide the ASX listed company through a looming entry into the US, and help protect it from any potential takeover.

Orthocell chief executive Paul Anderson (left) and chairman John Van Der Wielen. Trevor Collens

“The best way to defend anything is to have really quality strategic shareholders behind you. We now are looking for those solid strategic investors … they can help you defend a take-over,” he said.

The company on Monday announced the University of