Cardinal Health Launches Battle-Tested, Life-Saving Dressings for Acute Care Professionals

December 7, 2007 - Cardinal Health and HemCon Medical Technologies Inc. this week announced the availability of co-labeled chitosan-based hemorrhage control dressings to acute care professionals as part of an exclusive, four-year distribution agreement.

Cardinal Health now offers various sizes of the HemCon Bandage and ChitoFlex dressings to first responders and medical professionals in emergency rooms, trauma care, and cardiac catheterization labs.

Using HemCon's unique chitosan technology, antibacterial HemCon dressings control bleeding by becoming extremely sticky when in contact with blood. The adhesive-like action seals the wound and attracts red blood cells to the bandage, forming a seal that stops hemorrhaging independent of the clotting cascade. The bandages are effective on high-pressure, high-flow arterial bleeds. The hemostatic HemCon Bandages and ChitoFlex dressings are available in multiple sizes.

HemCon products have been used by the U.S. military since 2003, and, according to the U.S. Army Surgeon General's office, the HemCon Bandage has a 97 percent effective rate in controlling bleeding on the battlefield. HemCon recently redesigned its bandages to meet the specific needs of civilian trauma and emergency medicine.

All HemCon dressings are fabricated from chitosan, a naturally occurring, biocompatible polysaccharide derived from shrimp shells. The shrimp shells are processed, chemically treated, made into bandage form and then sterilized.

For more information: www.hemcon.com