3M Health Care's Medical Solutions Division has received a $34.2m award to improve the treatment of traumatic wounds from point of injury to hospital.

Provided by the US Army Medical Research Acquisition Activity, the funding will enable 3M to spearhead a programme that focuses on treatment strategies to be used in harsh settings, especially those related to delayed evacuation situations and mass casualties – the development of which is a Department of Defense Combat Casualty Care Capability Assessment objective.

The programme's scope includes developing solutions for infection prevention, wound management and healing.

It will support the development of four product solutions, encompassing prototype creation, formulation development and the completion of two clinical studies for product registration.

3M's collaboration involves partners such as the University of Minnesota Medical School, the 59th Medical Wing Science and Technology Office of the Chief Scientist, the Naval Medical Research Unit, San Antonio, and the University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio.

The work, involving six principal investigators and 125 support personnel, will be conducted at three different US sites over five years from 2023 to 2027.

The programme's outcomes are expected to deliver innovative solutions that not only meet military needs but also have applications in civilian trauma, burns and chronic wound care.

3M Health Care Business Group research and development senior vice-president Raymond Chiu stated: “Successful treatment of acute, traumatic wounds requires a continuum of care that begins with easy-to-use dressings and effective infection prevention that can be applied at the point of injury, continues with portable solutions for transport and transitions to more sophisticated solutions in hospital settings suitable for rehabilitation and reintegration of patients.

“3M is proud to be working with civilian and military partners to bring these solutions to fruition."