Dublin-based Alltracel Pharmaceuticals has been granted US marketing approval for its Blood Stopping spray for consumer use.
The US Federal Drug Administration (FDA) gave its approval to SEAL•ON, an aerosol spray designed to stop capillary bleeding within two minutes of spraying it onto wounded skin.
The spray, classified as a medical device, is already approved and sold across Europe with distributors appointed or awaiting regulatory approvals in Eastern Europe and in the Middle and Far East.
Commenting on the approval, Alltracel chief executive Mr Gerard Brandon said: "With this major milestone now achieved, the group is confident that wound care revenues will show rapid growth throughout 2002".
Alltracel was established in 1996 as a biopharmaceutical research and development company specialising in medical devices and pharmaceutical compounds that control bleeding, limit or stop cancer and viral proliferation, and time-delay drug delivery.
Research is carried out in Tisnov, Czech Republic, in addition to Trinity College Dublin and the Academy of Sciences University in Prague.