KCI announces creation of Advanced Research and Technology center

Jul 13 2010

Kinetic Concepts, Inc. (NYSE: KCI) announced today the creation of an Advanced Research and Technology (ART) center that will lead the company's efforts to develop revolutionary new wound healing, regenerative medicine, and therapeutic support system technologies and treatments.

“KCI has an enviable history of developing products that offer differentiation and deliver great patient outcomes. That also defines our future”

The KCI ART will serve as an innovation center that investigates emerging medical therapies and technologies to fuel product development and commercialization. It will support the company's mission of restoring patients to healthy lives while helping providers reduce their overall cost of care.

"The history of human achievement shows us that the greatest innovations occur in an environment that promotes collaboration, creativity and intellectual curiosity," said Cathy Burzik, KCI's president and CEO. "That is KCI's culture, and that is our vision for this center."

The ART, made up of leading researchers and engineers, will focus on:

• Conducting applied research to develop new clinical applications that leverage KCI's existing portfolio of proprietary technologies
• Combining elements of KCI's current platform technologies to create new therapies that address unmet clinical needs
• Investigating emerging trends and medical technologies that show significant potential to advance the science of wound healing and tissue regeneration
• Developing collaborative relationships with leading universities around the world to identify future technologies of relevance to KCI's mission

Specific priorities include developing more mobile and compact wound healing technologies for home care settings, and identifying new clinical applications for KCI's regenerative medicine business beyond the repair of soft-tissue defects.

David J. McQuillan, Ph.D., has been appointed senior vice president, Advanced Research and Technology and will lead the center. McQuillan is a 10-year veteran of KCI and most recently served as the vice president of research and development for the company's LifeCell business unit, where he led the development of innovative regenerative medicine products including the Strattice^® Reconstructive Tissue Matrix. He is a leading expert in the fields of biochemistry and tissue regeneration.

"KCI has an enviable history of developing products that offer differentiation and deliver great patient outcomes. That also defines our future," said McQuillan. "The Advanced Research and Technology center will ensure we have the right technologies to sustain robust product offerings and maintain our industry leadership."

Prior to joining KCI, McQuillan was a faculty member at the Institute of Biosciences and Technology, Texas A&M Health Science Center in Houston and senior research officer at the University of Melbourne in Australia.

He holds a doctorate in biochemistry from Monash University in Australia.