PROJECT CONTENT AND EXPECTED RESULTS:

Resorbable PGA (polygycolic acid) surgical sutures are essential in surgery, enabling effective wound healing without the need for subsequent removal. Yet France is taking a passive stance in this rapidly growing market, worth several billion dollars and dominated by the US and Asia (8 to 9 per cent annual growth; an ageing population, a rise in road traffic accidents and chronic diseases). At present, however, all PGA is derived from petroleum. Building on an innovation from Lille (BKB: the first plant-based glycolic acid produced on an industrial scale), we are well-placed to develop a French supply chain for absorbable suture thread PGA of natural origin (as opposed to synthetic): from the monomer via polymerisation (e.g., Reactive Extrusion), through the development of the surgical suture, its medical and technical compliance, and its production right through to its commercialisation.

This is a matter not only of competitiveness, but also of green reindustrialisation and national sovereignty in the field of health. The expected outcomes of this initiative are (1) a shift in practices towards greater entrepreneurship (economic leadership), (2) increased collaboration between public and private research (technology commercialisation and transfer), (3) the revaluation of sustainable bio-resources through a circular economy, (4) an eco-transition in industrial chemistry (decarbonisation, management of risks specific to green chemistry, CSR), (5) and the establishment of a production plant in the Hauts-de-France region, creating jobs (e.g., 30–40 direct and indirect jobs) and, finally, (6) the supply of a bio-based and bioresorbable surgical suture equivalent to commercially available PGA sutures