Around 40% of road accident deaths result from bleeding and there are 1.5 lakh road accident deaths annually in India. In addition, one out of two soldiers die due to uncontrolled bleeding. Globally, excessive bleeding affects millions from different walks of life.
Young Leo Mavely was a volunteer for efforts to help road accident victims reach hospitals on time. One day he witnessed an accident in which a bus hit a bike, leaving the biker bleeding profusely. Luckily, Leo managed to take the victim to the hospital in time and he survived. However, after watching this road accident victim bleed profusely while on his way to help, Leo recognized the need for something revolutionary that could stop high pressure bleeding and would save lives and, in the process, advance healthcare in India.
He did some research, but couldn’t find a single product in India that would stop such bleeding instantly. First responders only used gauze with high pressure, which is not enough for severe accident victims. Leo decided to explore biomaterials for a possible solution to prevent blood loss through open wounds during the golden hour: the one-hour period after an accident where a victim’s chances of survival are believed to be the highest.
In 2008, Leo launched his company, Axio Biosolutions to address this gap. He came up with Axiostat, an advanced wound dressing that stops traumatic external bleeding. It utilizes the unique biomaterial ‘Chitosan’ in a novel sponge form. It is India’s first developed, patented, and commercialized emergency haemostatic dressing. It works on a unique charge based mechanism of mucoadhesion which forms a mechanical barrier on the bleeding site. The dressing is gamma sterilized, painless, allows for easy removal, and even works on patients on blood thinners. The versatile dressing can be cut, folded and stuffed into deep wounds – and it has no side effects. A key feature is the speed with which it stops bleeding – while standard gauze takes over 13 minutes, Axiostat takes just over 2 minutes to totally stop the bleeding! Its applications extended from emergency and trauma to include military, vascular, and surgery.
In February 2019, the company launched MaxioCel for the chronic wound-healing (e.g. diabetic foot ulcers) market, and this has proven to be a game changer in the advanced wound healing space within this short span of time.
With a presence in over 40 countries, Axio Biosolutions has today become a global name that uses innovative medical technology to create breakthrough products and save people’s lives. Axiostat is a US FDA, CE marked bioadhesive hemostatic dressing with additional regulatory approvals in 28+ countries including, but not limited to, Argentina, Israel, Saudi Arabia, UAE, Indonesia and Thailand. Axio is the de-facto supplier of Indian Armed Forces (260+ battalions) and a key supplier to militaries worldwide including Saudi Arabia Armed Forces and Hungary, Indonesia Police Forces. Axiostat is also procured by the BSF, NSG, and other para-military forces as part of their defense kit, during their operations at the border and conflict zones such as Northeast.
Axio’s customers also include numerous government hospitals and reputed private healthcare institutions such as AIIMS, Manipal, Apollo, Breach Candy and Fortis, among others. Axio has a research collaboration partnership with Harvard Medical School to bring the latest scientific and technological innovation into the surgical and advanced wound care market.
Leo is the Founder & CEO of Axio Biosolutions. A bioengineer by qualification, Leo founded the company with the aim of creating affordable and impactful healthcare solutions.
