ALUMINAIDTM

by Dr. Devanathan Raghunathan, Chief Medical Officer, Advanced First Aid Research, Singapore
This article is the first in a 2-part series, discussing the science, and technology behind ALUMINAIDTM brand of wound care
dressings.

ALUMINAIDTM: The Origins

Barbequing meat on a sunny Colorado afternoon, you burn your fingers. Grimacing in pain, and with no ice water around to
dunk your hand into, against conventional wisdom, you immediately give in to your wifes suggestion to wrap your hand
with aluminum foil.
A few unbelievable and painless minutes later, you realize that you have a winner in your hands! You stumble on an idea for
pain relief, for the kind of pain that is usually rated worse than the one associated with labor (burn patients often rank their
debilitating pain ~15 on a pain scale of 1 to 10!).
ALUMINAIDTM is based on this very idea, that we subsequently patented (Ref US 8,530,720 B2) and forms the core of our
technology. To understand the underlying science, lets step back to understand a bit about burn wounds...
Burn injuries are the third leading cause of accidental death in the United States. Data from the World Health Organization ()
suggests that this gets significantly worse in developing and under-developed countries.
While there is a plethora of reasons that can lead to burn injuries, including exposure to very hot or cold surfaces, chemicals,
radiation, friction, and electricity; the resulting burn wound is broadly classified based on the area and depth of the affected
skin. Briefly:

st

1 Degree Burns characterized by destruction of only the outer layer of skin, the epidermis resulting in red and
very painful skin, possibly accompanied by blister formation. While hospitalization is generally not required,
course of action is directed towards addressing pain and fluid imbalance.
nd
2 Degree Burns further classified as Partial or Full Thickness burns depending on partial or complete
destruction of dermal layer (in both cases epidermis is entirely destroyed). While full thickness wounds take
longer to heal, it is the partial thickness wounds that give rise to excruciating pain. Course of action ranges from
keeping the wound area moist, to sometimes needing excision and grafting.
rd
th
3 and 4 Degree Burns where all layers of the skin are destroyed and usually extends to the subcutaneous
tissues. Since all nerve endings have been completely destroyed, these wounds are generally painless.

The degree of burn is further complicated by the victims age, involvement of vital organs, level of dehydration, pulmonary
complications resulting from inhalation of smoke, weakening of immune system etc. In general, the intensity of pain felt is
high in a first degree and partial thickness second degree burn wound. This is attributed to damage of nerve ending, while in
the case of full thickness and more advanced third and fourth degree burn wounds, all nerve endings are destroyed, resulting
in no pain sensation.
The intense pain felt after a first or second degree burn is basically the result of nerve damage, and calls for desperate
measures. Some apply ice, others apply oil, or petroleum jelly, or worse still, toothpaste. While it is debatable on what
constitutes the best course of action to treat burn wounds, experts unanimously agree that the above mentioned interventions
are problematic because:

Ice on burn wounds can cause frost bite and vasoconstriction

Oil and petroleum jelly form an insulating layer on the skin, trapping the heat and causing deeper tissue damage
Toothpaste contains harmful chemicals like menthol, fluorides and abrasives that can further damage burnt skin

Such interventions, in addition to slowing down wound healing, can potentially lead to infections, scarring and other
complications. The traditional course of action immediately after a first or second degree burn is to expose the burn area to
cold running water, till pain subsides. And this is where the ingenuity of ALUMINAIDTM comes in

ALUMINAIDTM unique
patented
design
comprises of a layer of metal in contact with the
skin, backed by a hydrogel based heat sink. Our
technology is orders of magnitude more efficient
in drawing away the heat from the site of burn
wound than cold running water. This is easy to
understand even in light of fundamental physics,
that puts the thermal conductivity of metal much
higher than water (for comparison: water ~ 0.6
W m-1 K-1 against Aluminum ~ 205 W m-1 K-1).
More importantly, ALUMINAIDTM is engineered to transfer heat in just one directioninto a heat sink, away from the site
of the burn, thus ensuring a continuous and an efficient stop to deeper tissue damage, and most importantly a very quick
reduction in pain.
The histopathological outcome from our pre-clinical study in porcine model, unambiguously points towards the superiority
of ALUMINAIDTM over its nearest competitor, a hydrogel based burn dressing. ALUMINAIDTM outperformed the hydrogel
in rigorous evaluations based on delayed type hypersensitivity testing, absorption & water vapor transmission, cytotoxicity,
dermal irritation, and intracutaneous reactivity testing.

ALUMINAIDTM: Present Day

ALUMINAIDTM burn plasters are scientifically designed to achieve reduction in pain for burn wounds.
While the underlying principle seems deceptively simple, our scientists and engineers have relentlessly worked to optimize
heat transfer from skin to heat sink, via metallic interface.
Preclinical tests and ongoing clinical trials strongly support ALUMINAIDsTM claim as a burn analgesic, and has received
positive endorsements and regulatory approval from various bodies like Los Angeles Fire Department, The Grossman Burn
Centre, Health Science Authority Singapore, CE Marking (European Conformity) respectively. It is also expected that
ALUMINAIDTM will receive approval from FDA by the third quarter of 2016.
ALUMINAIDTM is currently sold over the counter in various sizes in Singapore, Malaysia, Australia and continues to be a
game changer in the world of advanced burn wound care.

ALUMINAIDTM: The Future of Wound Care

ALUMINAIDTM range of plasters was designed to address pain relief at a very fundamental level. The philosophy of
avoiding further heat penetration leading to tissue destruction, that in turn prevents nerve impulses from alerting the brain of
skin damage, provides an elegant bottom up view of ALUMINAIDTM mechanism of action. More specifically, it is believed
that drawing away the heat, has a down regulatory effect on inflammatory mediators which in turn decreases the stimulation
of nociceptors at the end of A and C fibres.
In the course of research on understanding and improving ALUMINAIDTM mechanism of action, our scientists and
engineers have uncovered exciting aspects and areas of application of our wound dressing.

Consider this, a proprietary hydrogel formulation containing a pulverized version of our original metal based
plaster, shows an astonishing 2-fold increase in cooling efficacy of burn wounds! This is the basis of a novel
sun burn gel and spray, both eagerly awaited by a market of sun burnt people who have had nothing but Aloe
Vera to turn to till date.
Another surprising derivative of the ALUMINAIDTM burn plaster has been
its application as a fever patch. This is a lucrative market, that is presently
inundated with products mostly based on hydrogels that contain various
concentrations of menthol, camphor, methyl salicylate, or capsaicin etc.
that provide cooling relief via evaporation. The main disadvantages of
such systems are their short term effectiveness, and more critically lack of
suitability for sensitive, sweaty skin particularly in infants.
In stark contrast, ALUMINAIDTM metal based fever patches, can at least
in theory, serve infinitely longer to draw heat away from the skin during a
fever, and the absence of harsh chemicals makes it more appealing to be
used for pediatric applications. Of course, all these solutions, including
that of ALUMINAIDTM only serve to reduce surface temperature, and it is
vital that medical intervention is immediately sought if fever causes core body temperature
to remain escalated for a long time.
Such exciting applications, as described above combined with potential application in cosmetics, sports medicine, veterinary
medicine etc. have led our scientists to revisit and reformulate our product to tune parameters, not just related to heat
transfer, but also properties related to mass transfer, kinetics (controlled release), loading efficacy with respect to various
antimicrobials, and compatibility with bioactive solutions (that include growth factors, stem cells etc.)

ALUMINAIDTM: From Product to Platform

The ALUMINAIDTM brand is moving from just being a product to address first and second degree burn wounds, to an
exciting wound care platform, that seeks to address wounds beyond burns, to chronic wounds like diabetic foot ulcers,
venous ulcers, and infected wounds etc.
This platform has spawned an exciting pipeline of products that holds the promise and capability of anti-infective,
accelerated healing, reduced scarring for wound care products; promote hydration and controlled transdermal release for
cosmetic products etc. We at Advanced First Aid Research like to compare our platform to an iPhone, a general purpose
vehicle capable of accommodating different Apps for various applications.
The ALUMINAIDTM team is working together with leading research groups across the globe, to bring the promise of pain
relief, and quick, efficient, scar free wound healing to the masses. Our quest to bring design to value, and product concept to
completion has been made possible by fruitful collaborations with:

The Singapore Institute of Manufacturing Technology, A*STAR, Singapore (http://www.a-star.edu.sg/simtech/)

The Centre for Research on Adaptive Nanostructures and Nanodevices at Trinity College, Dublin in Ireland
(http://www.crann.tcd.ie/)
Advanced Materials and Bio Engineering Research Centre in Ireland (http://ambercentre.ie/)
Future collaborations with the Nanyang Technological University Singapore, and the Indian Institute of
Technology.

ALUMINAIDTM: The Team

Like many exciting discoveries, ALUMINAIDTM came out of a chance encounter. However, the continuing future success of
ALUMINAIDTM lies in the experienced and capable hands of its managerial team led by experts in the biology of wound
care, chemistry & biomaterials, manufacturing & product design, regulatory affairs, business strategy, and finance.
The ALUMINAIDTM team comprises of:
Steve Carroll Chief Technology Officer
Steve holds a MSc from Cambridge University & brings over 25 years experience in
design, development, manufacturing, quality, distribution & sales to the ALUMINAIDTM
team. Steve has twice won the prestigious Queens Award for Technological
Achievement for his work on technological advancement of fractional n synthesis. He has
commercialised three global best selling designs in high-security military radio and
scientific monitoring equipment. Steve has previously held senior engineering positions
with GEC, NATO & Marconi Systems.
Dr. Mike Jones Chief Scientific Officer
Mike holds a PhD from Vanderbilt University and brings more than 25 years of experience in
biomedical research to ALUMINAIDTM. His broad reaching expertise includes cell signaling,
growth factors, cytokine functions and tissue developments and repair as applied using animal
model systems. He has led internationally recognized research programs in both London and
Singapore.

Viryanti Chief Regulatory Officer

Educated as a scientist in Humboldt University zu Berlin in Germany, Viryanti has over 18 years
of experience in clinical research, manufacturing, design, quality and regulatory affairs across
various health care business environments. Prior to joining Aluminaid Pte. Ltd, Viryanti served as
Regulatory Affairs Manager for both Abbott Laboratories (Singapore) Pte. Ltd. and Smith &
Nephew Pte. Ltd.

Liam Chief Financial Officer

Liam qualified as a chartered accountant (ACA) during his 4.5 years with Ernst and Youngs
banking and capital markets team focusing mainly on European banks and financial institutions
before completing a Masters in Computational finance in the University of Limerick. He then
joined the finance team of Barclays Capital, initially focusing on US syndicated lending and
overseeing the finance function for Marquee transactions such as Verizon / Vodafone $61bn
bridge financing, the largest of its kind in history and Thermo Fishers $12.5bn acquisition of life
Technologies. He has also worked with the distressed debt desk specializing in emerging
markets credit risk through bonds, loans, SPVs and a variety of derivative products.
Dr. Devanathan Raghunathan Chief Medical Officer
Devan earned his PhD in Chemistry at the Max Planck Institute for Biophysical Chemistry,
University of Gottingen Germany, in addition to advanced degrees in Knowledge Engineering
from National University of Singapore & an MBA (Finance) from the S P Jain School of Global
Management. He has authored several publications in peer reviewed, high impact journals,
working on experimental and computational aspects of structure-function in drugs, proteins, and
nucleic acids. Devan has held appointments at the Agency of Science Technology & Research
(A*STAR), the Singapore MIT Alliance for Research and Technology (SMART), and the
Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) in research capacity, and worked with start-ups &
SMEs in Planning & Business Development capacity with a focus on technology & product
development for healthcare, life sciences and nutraceuticals etc.

Connect with us on Social Media

Follow ALUMINAIDTM on social media. Keep up with our exciting research & product development by connecting with us
on Twitter at @aluminaid
on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/Aluminaid.AdvancedFirstAid/?fref=nf
on LinkedIn at https://sg.linkedin.com/in/aluminaid