Wound Healing Awareness Month: From Innovation to Impact Praxis is Accelerating Pressure Wound Solutions for Canadians with SCI

Pressure injuries remain one of the most common and costly secondary health complications experienced by people living with spinal cord injury (SCI). Most individuals with SCI will experience at least one pressure injury in their lifetime, with serious consequences for health, independence, and quality of life.

Beyond the personal impact, pressure injuries place a significant burden on Canada’s healthcare system. A Praxis report estimated that pressure injuries among Canadians living with SCI cost between $410 million and $907.9 million annually, with additional costs borne by individuals, families, caregivers, and communities.

June is Wound Healing Awareness Month, highlighting the importance of advancing solutions for wound prevention, management, and healing.

Praxis supports the development and adoption of health technologies that address critical challenges in SCI care. Through the Praxis SCI Incubate program, innovators work alongside clinicians, researchers, and people with lived experience to ensure emerging technologies respond to real-world needs.

One example is NanoTess, a Canadian health technology company and SCI Incubate alum. Through engagement with clinicians and people living with SCI, NanoTess refined its wound care approach to better address pressure injuries and other complex wounds common within the SCI community.

Its NanoSALV Catalytic technology is a novel wound care matrix designed to accelerate healing and is approved for use in Canada for the management of acute and chronic wounds across the continuum of care.

Selected accomplishments and advancements to date include:

• Received Health Canada approval as a Class II medical device.
• Procurement secured in Alberta and BC, including listing on BC Pharmacare Formulary & Alberta Drug Benefit list.
• Available over-the-counter in Canada; stocked on shelves at London Drugs (Western Canada) and by order at all Shoppers Drug Mart locations (nation-wide)

This work demonstrates how collaboration among innovators, clinicians, researchers, and people with lived experience can accelerate the development of technologies that improve health outcomes and quality of life for people living with SCI.