Glycosan BioSystems was founded by Glenn Prestwich, William Tew, and Anna Scott in January 2006. The company received startup support from the Centers of Excellence Program for innovative research in Utah and from the University of Utah, then closed its first round of investment in May 2007. Glycosan’s patent-pending Extracel® technology was developed by the Center for Therapeutic Biomaterials at the University of Utah. Glycosan was recently acquired by BioTime, Inc (Alameda, CA) in March 2011 and is currently pursuing the clinical use of its hydrogel products for treating facial contour defects, tendon repair, degenerative disc disease, vocal fold scarring, glioma, and stroke.  

Intellectual Property

Glycosan BioSystems holds exclusive worldwide rights to a patent estate, which was licensed from the University of Utah Research Foundation with broad claims to product chemical composition, method of crosslinking, method of preparation, and use of the synthetic extracellular matrix (sECM).

The exclusive sECM technology behind Glycosan’s Extracel® product line makes several specific applications possible, including:

• in vitro three-dimensional cell culture
• in vitro and in vivo animal models to screen for drug efficacy, safety, and toxicology
• reagents for tissue and cell preservation
• personal-care products

Glycosan also holds a co-exclusive license for tissue engineering and cell-therapy applications of Extracel®.