Winston-Salem, N.C., February 2, 2014 – KeraNetics LLC announced today that it has been awarded a $1,000,000 SBIR Phase II contract from the US Army for testing KeraStat^® Burn Gel and Halofuginone for the treatment of burn scars. Dr. Luke Burnett, Chief Science Officer for the Company and Principal Investigator for the project said of the award: “Burn scars are a significant problem for our Wounded Warriors, and there are not a lot of good options for treating these injuries. One potential solution is a product KeraNetics™ has been developing called KeraStat^®. With the gracious funding from the Department of Defense, and the US Army in particular, we will be able to test this product in a human clinical study of second-degree thermal burns. We are also grateful to the excellent clinical faculty at the Wake Forest Baptist Health Burn Center who are partnering with us for the study.”

Dr. Burnett added, “In addition to testing KeraStat^® in a clinical trial, we will also be conducting development testing of a combination of KeraStat^® and a novel drug for preventing scar contracture called halofuginone. Our preliminary data has shown that both KeraStat^® and halofuginone can prevent the formation of scars after burn injury. We are fortunate to work with Applied Catheter Technologies, which is active in testing halofuginone for various medical applications.”