Treatment of burns and diabetic ulcers and cosmetic surgery has become affordable to millions of patients in India and other developing countries, thanks to collagen-based biomedical products made indigenously from the tannery trimmings of hides and skins used in leather-making. The technology for this has been developed by the scientists of the Central Leather Research Institute (CLRI), Chennai. ?Now collagen-products are available in the country at 25% of the cost of imported materials, helping the victims of burns and fire accidents across the country,? CLRI sources told FE.
The leather research institute has licensed the technology to private small-scale entrepreneurs, who manufacture and supply native collagen membrane, reconstituted collagen membrane, and silver sulphadizene-loaded collagen to hospitals and clinics. Some quantity is also exported.
CLRI sources said the market for this bio-medical commodity is enormous, and the cost in India is much less than international prices.
Pioneer research in the structure of collagen had started in the Madras University in the 1950s. Along with other world laboratories and scientists, an Indian scientist, G N Ramachandran, had identified the structure of collagen and developed technology for its isolation and purification.
CLRI scientists began research on reconstituting the purified collagen into different forms like membranes, films, sponges, and powder for biomedical applications.
Technology to manufacture collagen-based materials were first licensed in 1997-98, bringing the benefits of research to society. In the diamond jubilee year of CLRI, the biomedical division of the institute is taking the lead in organising an international conference on ?Recent trends in collagen?. The seminar on January 24 and 25, 2008 would focus on the structure and function of collagen, the diseases that can be treated with collagen, smart bio-materials, their clinical applications, and collagen-based commercial ventures.