Tocoheal: All-in-one dressings with vitamin E tocotrienols

Written by Dr Alice Chuah Lay Hong, School of Pharmacy

Globally, there are 8.1 million people who have wounds with or without infection. Rising wound incidence has imposed substantial burdens on healthcare expenditure. Despite being a common presentation in the clinical setting, providing optimal wound care remains a challenge. Normal acute wounds in healthy individuals tend to resolve spontaneously without clinical intervention. However, improper wound care may lead to undesirable complications such as wound infections or abnormal wound healing, resulting in uneven scar tissue formation. Affordable wound treatments that improve wound healing outcomes are desirable and beneficial to patients and the overall healthcare system.

Traditional wound management often involves the separate application of medication and dressing. Healthcare personnel are involved in changing the dressings in a clinical setting. It causes inconvenience for patients, especially in urban areas where traffic congestion and long waiting time at the hospital are common.

Tocoheal is a novel all-in-one dressing loaded with a wound-healing agent, vitamin E Tocotrienols, and sustainable, biodegradable polymers formulation. The design enables the controlled release of tocotrienols into the wound. Tocoheal promotes blood clot formation, accelerates wound healing, and reduces scar formation. It has a high absorbent capacity to absorb exudates from wounds caused by burns, cuts and abrasions. Its easy-to-use and time-saving features allow patients to change dressings efficiently at home and for the beauty and aesthetic industry. No product in the market can increase the wound healing rate.

We have successfully developed the prototype. The Monash University Malaysia Advanced Engineering Platform funded the first part of the research work. Meanwhile, the Malaysian Palm Oil Board gave us a large matching grant to conduct clinical trials of the dressings in post-surgical patients to evaluate their efficacy. The clinical trials will take about 1.5 years to complete.

'Tocoheal' has recently won a Gold medal (medical and health category) in Malaysia's 32^nd International Invention, Innovation & Technology Exhibition (ITEX 2021).

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