VetiGel: Algae-Based Polymer Invented By Teenager Stops Bleeding In Seconds

First Posted: Jun 24, 2015 12:30 PM EDT
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Twenty-two-year-old Joe Landolina is one remarkable young man.

When Landolina was just 17, he created VetiGel, an algae-based polymer that stops a wound from bleeding. He is now the cofounder and CEO of the biotech company Suneris, which manufactures the product.

The gel begins as algae that consist of small individual polymers that break down into even tinier pieces that can be put into gel and injected at the wound site, according to Business Insider.

"What that means, on the one hand, is that the gel will make a very strong adhesive that holds the wound together," Landolina said, via the news organization: "But on the other hand, that mesh acts as a scaffold to help the body produce fibrin at the wound's surface."

Just last week the company announced that they will be shipping the product to veterinarians later in the summer and VetiGel for humans will be the next in line. The British company Vetplus, which focuses on animal medicine and is also partnered with Suneris, is also in the planning stages of manufacturing the product around the globe, according to Food World News.

A five-pack of 5-millimiter syringes is estimated to cost about $150. Landolina said Suneris hopes to first release the product in the United States, followed by a release in Europe and Asia sometime early next year.

A similar product (similarly named) Vitagel also works in the same ways, according to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, assisting the body in quickly clotting blood.

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