LifeCell acquires advanced adipose Tissue Injector from TauTona Group for fat grafting procedures

Kinetic Concepts, Inc. (KCI) announced today that LifeCell Corporation (LifeCell) has acquired an advanced adipose Tissue Injector (aTI) for improved fat grafting procedures from the TauTona Group, a medical device incubator based in Menlo Park, California. With the aTI, LifeCell is expanding its offering for reconstructive and cosmetic procedures utilizing fat grafting technology. The acquisition of the aTI technology advances KCI's strategy to bring new technologies into the combined KCI, LifeCell and Systagenix product portfolio to better serve the needs of customers and patients around the world.

"With this acquisition, we will leverage the LifeCell sales channel in the reconstructive and plastic surgery fields to commercialize this exciting new technology," said Joe Woody, president & CEO, KCI. "We continue to be focused on innovation and acquisitions of technologies and platforms that both complement and further diversify our combined product portfolio."

The aTI is a battery-powered, single-use tool that was built to deliver fat at a controlled rate, which reduces the complexity of performing injections and allows the surgeon to focus on placement. By managing the pressure and flow rates during injection, the aTI minimizes damage to the injected fat and efficiently delivers the tissue to the injection site.

"The acquisition of the adipose Tissue Injector demonstrates our ongoing commitment to providing clinicians with the tools they need to provide efficient, cost-effective surgical and reconstructive procedures to their patients," said Philip Croxford, Senior Vice President, LifeCell. "We believe the aTI, in addition to LifeCell's existing REVOLVE^™ Fat Processing System, will offer clinicians valuable solutions from fat grafting processing through reinjection."

"LifeCell is the best possible company to commercialize the adipose Tissue Injector, given its existing presence in the fat grafting market and long-standing position as a leader in the reconstructive and plastic surgery fields," said Geoffrey Gurtner, MD, Managing Partner, TauTona and Professor of Plastic Surgery, Stanford University. "Fat grafting is rapidly growing as an effective surgical method, but is often performed with a 100-year-old technology, the syringe. Physicians are looking to simplify fat grafting in order to reduce costs and improve efficiency. We believe the adipose Tissue Injector can help simplify these types of procedures."

The aTI is the second product in the LifeCell fat grafting portfolio since the launch of the REVOLVE^™ Fat Processing System in October 2013. The REVOLVE^™ System is a patented, single-use device that can be placed in a sterile field to facilitate more efficient processing, filtering, and transferring of a patient's own fat tissue. It enables high-volume fat processing (up to 800ml lipoaspirate) in less than 15 minutes, offering the potential to reduce operating room procedure time.