Tepha Inc.

Tepha, Inc. is a medical device firm pursuing the development and commercialization of innovative products based on the Company’s proprietary biomaterial technology. The technology provides a new class of absorbable biomaterials, known as polyhydroxyalkanoates (a.k.a. PHAs), which may be tailored to meet unmet needs for medical devices in multiple fields. Tepha’s novel, biosynthetically produced materials offer superior performance in flexibility, elasticity, and biocompatibility; and, for its fiber-based products, excellent tensile strength and strength retention.

With the introduction of the Company’s TephaFLEX® polymer as the first of the company’s PHA materials to be used in a medical device, Tepha has effectively extended the total number of available synthetic absorbable thermoplastic biomaterial options. Notably, the TephaFLEX biomaterial (a.k.a.poly-4-hydroxybutyrate, or P4HB) can be extruded into perhaps the world’s strongest absorbable monofilament fiber for use in medical devices, while the TephELAST® biomaterial, which might become the second of the company’s materials to be used, could become one of the first absorbable elastomers ever used in a medical device.

The Company’s products that have been cleared by the FDA using TephaFLEX® polymer include surgical suture and surgical meshes. Items that are currently in development could lead to more complex products, including devices for anterior cruciate ligament repair, intracardiac defect closure, and absorbable cardiovascular stents.