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Galatea Surgical Soft Tissue Support Scaffold Products to be Featured At the 2017 American Society of Plastic Surgeons Meeting

LEXINGTON, Mass., Sept. 26, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- Galatea Surgical ("Galatea"), a wholly owned subsidiary of Tepha Inc., will be a featured exhibitor at the prestigious American Society of Plastic Surgeons ("ASPS") Meeting in Orlando, Florida October 6th–10th.   A leader and innovator in the fast-growing field of regenerative scaffolds, Galatea announced that the most recent clinical experience on the Company's GalaSHAPE™ 3D and GalaFORM™ 3D Bioresorbable Surgical Scaffolds will be presented by Dr. Bruce Van Natta, a leading plastic surgeon based in Indianapolis, Indiana.  GalaFORM 3D and GalaSHAPE 3D are the first scaffold constructs to be introduced for aesthetic surgery that incorporate a three-dimensional contouring into the design of the product. The Galatea product portfolio will on display at Booth #1022.

Dr. Bruce Van Natta, a pioneer in documenting the need and value of resorbable soft tissue support in aesthetic breast surgery, will present his experience with GalaSHAPE 3D and GalaFORM 3D during the Hot Topics in Plastic Surgery Session – Course ID 701, on Friday, October 6th.  Dr. Van Natta's talk is entitled, "Absorbable Monofilament Mesh for Enhancing Breast Surgical Outcomes."

Dr. Van Natta commented, "I have incorporated Galatea's 3D scaffolds as important tools in my clinical practice. The anatomic contouring engineered into the product designs not only offers great strength and support to the repair, the 3D design facilitates insertion and fixation of the scaffold, leading to reduced surgical procedure time.  I believe GalaFORM 3D and GalaSHAPE 3D represent a truly revolutionary means of achieving excellent and sustainable patient outcomes."

GalaSHAPE 3D and GalaFORM 3D are the only three-dimensional bioresorbable mesh devices that are indicated for use in plastic and reconstructive surgery for the support, reinforcement, and elevation of weakened soft tissue.  Similar to the GalaFLEX Surgical Scaffold, GalaSHAPE 3D and GalaFORM 3D are mesh constructs comprised of monofilament fibers extruded from a proprietary polymer, P4HB™, developed by Tepha.  P4HB, or poly-4-hydroxybutyrate, is a biologically derived polymer that resorbs in the body with very low inflammation due to its low acidity relative to most other resorbable polymers.  Extensive animal testing and histology from human patients indicate that as P4HB mesh resorbs, it remodels to a functional new tissue plane that adds thickness and strength to the native, healthy tissue.  

Lois Lombardi, Vice President of Galatea, also commented, "The ASPS meeting has always been associated with physician education as well as product innovation. GalaSHAPE 3D and GalaFORM 3D are the only three-dimensional bioresorbable mesh constructs that are indicated for use in plastic surgery.  We look forward to introducing this latest innovation from Galatea to the ASPS membership at the meeting in Orlando."

ABOUT TEPHA INC:
Tepha Inc, founded in 1998 and headquartered in Lexington, MA, is a supplier of medical devices focused on the Biomaterials market.  Tepha's products are designed and developed to elevate, support and reinforce areas of soft tissue weakness as well as to promote improved healing responses. To date, Tepha and its partners have received twenty three 510(k) clearances for devices marketed in the US as well as five CE Marking approvals for products sold in Europe. Commercial products based on Tepha's resorbable P4HB polymer technology include:  high tensile strength sutures for orthopedic soft tissue repair; mesh constructs for ventral and inguinal hernia repair; monofilament sutures for abdominal wall closure and plastic surgery; patches for tendon and ligament repairs; and mesh constructs which have been used in face and breast lifts. To date, products made from P4HB have been successfully used in more than 1,000,000 surgical procedures worldwide, and have been the subject of over 30 published clinical and scientific papers.

ABOUT ASPS:
The American Society of Plastic Surgeons (ASPS) is the largest plastic surgery specialty organization in the world. Founded in 1931, the Society represents 94% of all board-certified plastic surgeons in the U.S., and more than 8,000 plastic surgeons worldwide, making ASPS a global institution and leading authority on cosmetic and reconstructive plastic surgery.

The mission of ASPS is to advance quality care to plastic surgery patients by encouraging high standards of training, ethics, physician practice and research in plastic surgery. The Society is a strong advocate for patient safety and requires its members to operate in accredited surgical facilities that have passed rigorous external review of equipment and staffing.

For more information visit: www.Tepha.com or by contacting:

Michelle Thompson at (508) 643-8000

michelle@cwrpartners.com

SOURCE Tepha Inc.