This week’s episode of “WisBusiness: the Podcast” is with Ashwin Karthikeyan, founder of Phoenix-Aid.
Karthikeyan, who won this year’s Wisconsin Governor’s Business Plan Contest, discusses his company’s advanced wound care dressing product. He describes it as a “better Band-Aid” for diabetic ulcers.
“These chronic wounds, they last a long time, they’re easily infected, they have a rather complex healing process,” he said. “Someone with a chronic wound generally has some sort of immune condition such as diabetes, or they’re in an older population set.”
The business is targeting underserved markets where patients only have access to standard gauzes, ointments and wraps, such as Native American reservations, rural areas or other countries such as India. The Phoenix-Aid alternative is meant to replace these treatments.
“It’s able to accelerate the healing of those wounds, protect those wounds from infections,” he said. “It lasts a longer time, it costs less and it’s something that the patient in most cases can change themselves, so it’s easier to use and sort of easier to teach.”
The company is currently conducting an animal study in Madison that’s testing the product in diabetic mice and rats to ensure it’s safe to use. Phoenix-Aid has also gotten approval to begin clinical trials in India, planned to start around November and run through spring or early summer.
“One of the biggest reasons we’re in India is it’s very cost effective and timely to get this clinical data, but we can use that data, the majority at least … to speed up the process of entrance into the American market, which we’re hoping to plan for around 2027 if we can manage it,” Karthikeyan said.
While the wound dressing was designed for diabetic ulcers, he noted it could eventually be applied for healing burns, bed sores and military trauma wounds.
The initial plan is to sell the product to pharmacies, clinics and hospitals, and ultimately go through distributors to reach these various health care providers. Karthikeyan said it could eventually be sold directly to patients as well.
“If you can apply a Band-Aid, generally you can apply this,” he said.
Listen to the podcast below, sponsored by UW-Madison:
