Bleeding out is one of the leading causes of death on the battlefield, according to the United States Department of Defense. A product created to clot blood quickly and effectively, therefore, could mean the difference between life and death.
And St. Thomas alumni Susie and Michael Woullett’s new product in the Protégé Biomedical line, if approved by the Food and Drug Association, could save both limbs and lives.
The Woulletts created Protégé Biomedical while attending graduate school at St. Thomas in 2010. After winning the 2010 Fowler Business Challenge with their product, the university encouraged the couple to pursue the business beyond a school project.
The idea came when Michael Woullett was reading an article about blood clotting technology in the military and wondered why the same technology couldn’t be used in a Band-Aid.
“In the military they use this biological material called fibrin, which costs about $1,000 per square inch,” Susie Woullett said. “So I started to explore what I could do to bring the price down and came up with a composition of minerals to add to the fibrin.”
After an initial trial, the couple discovered their all-natural mineral composition alone worked as well as, if not better than, fibrin, according to Susie Woullett.
Once they completed the trial, the Woulletts looked to the St. Thomas Norris Institute for a startup fund. The couple used the money from the institute to help start production on their product and create a marketable business. They began their marketing campaign by pitching their first and only product, ClotIt, to the local pet-care market. ClotIt is a powder used on animal wounds to clot their blood in time to get the animal to a local vet when injured.
“The Norris Institute was our first investor. Right at the beginning, after hearing our business plan, they took a big risk and gave us our initial $25,000,” Susie Woulett said.
This money was used to further patent protection and research on the product. By the time the product began being used in the pet-care market, the institute had given Protégé Biomedical $125,000.
“Norris funded us from a place where we weren’t really worth anything and were able to help us prove that our product worked,” Susie Woullett said. “The company is now worth $5.8 million, so we are super thankful for their help.”
Protégé Biomedical is currently working to get its blood-clotting product approved by the FDA for use in combat zones to help stop battlefield casualties and amputations. The Woulletts hope the FDA will come to a decision within the next few months.
“Hopefully within the next year we will get approval to start selling this product on the human market. We hope it will save a lot of limbs and lives,” Susie Woullett said.
Protégé Biomedical is one of many products the Norris Institute has invested in with the goal of backing small, St. Thomas-affiliated companies that are in need of a startup fund, according to Michael Moore, director of the Norris Institute.
“Good jobs – jobs that can support a family – are created by startup companies and innovative entrepreneurs like the Woulletts of Protégé,” Moore said. “What St. Thomas has is unique in that it supports its entrepreneurial students.”
The Norris Institute currently owns five percent of Protégé Biomedical in investments.
Whitney Oachs can be reached at oach5325@stthomas.edu.