PolyNovo has signed a heads of agreement with Establishment Labs, a global medical device company focused on breast aesthetics and reconstruction technologies.

Under the terms of the agreement, PolyNovo and Establishment Labs will jointly develop a range of medical devices for use in breast aesthetics and reconstruction.

PolyNovo’s NovoSorb is an exciting platform technology with many applications in medical devices. The breast aesthetics and reconstruction market is estimated to be approximately $3B.

The combination of two energetic, innovative and patient-centric companies, PolyNovo and Establishment Labs, represents significant innovation in a market that needs to continue to be customer driven and focused.

Over the next few months, PolyNovo and Establishment Labs have agreed to develop the detail of the project plans for next generation devices specific to breast aesthetics and reconstruction. These plans will provide a roadmap that establishes the development milestones for the delivery of commercial-ready devices.

PolyNovo CEO Paul Brennan said: “This is an exciting development program that will deliver many benefits to PolyNovo through Establishment Labs’ key opinion leaders, clinical team and global reach. The partnership allows PolyNovo a faster route to market and sales than we could achieve alone.

"When developing sophisticated products such as breast devices we preferred a partner who was both innovative, outcome focused and has established market cache. We believe Establishment Labs is one of the most pioneering and customer-focused companies in the breast surgery market. These qualities have led them to have one of fastest growth rates in this segment.”

PolyNovo Chairman David Williams said: “Our NovoSorb polymer will bring much needed innovation to the breast surgery market for the benefit of patients and doctors. While the breast implant market is growing at 5% per year, Establishment Labs has experienced high double digit growth over the last 5 years."

Under the terms of the agreement, PolyNovo will develop the polymers and the manufacturing processes for the devices, as well as hold accountability for all polymer-related laboratory work and biocompatibility testing.

Establishment Labs will conduct animal and clinical trial programs and ultimately market the devices globally under its MotivaImagine platform. PolyNovo will retain all IP related to NovoSorb polymer. The terms will be announced upon contract signing.