Nerves of Steel

Kacey Marra is no stranger to innovation; indeed, she’s helped establish seven new labs in the University of Pittsburgh Department of Plastic Surgery since 2002. Today, however, Marra is looking forward to making big changes outside the lab with her rebranded startup, Swan NeuroTech. 

A professor of Plastic Surgery with a secondary appointment in Bioengineering at the Swanson School of Engineering, Marra initially founded Swan NeuroTech, formerly known as Nerve Repair Technologies, in 2019 to treat nerve injury. 

“We developed a biodegradable tube in our lab that can promote nerve regeneration over severe injuries or large gaps,” Marra said. “When I realized this is really something that could potentially revolutionize treatment for nerve injuries, I started a company, licensed many of my patents, and had just been working toward getting the FDA to approve the first clinical trial.”

Marra’s goal with Swan NeuroTech is to commercialize their product, NeuraMAX nerve guide, a biomaterial-based drug delivery platform for peripheral nerve injuries. The nerve guide is a hollow tube made of porous, biodegradable polymers implanted by surgeons at the site of injury. Sustained release of a growth factor recruits specialized nerve regeneration cells to the nerve injury site so that the injured nerve can reconnect with the muscle for functional recovery. The nerve guide then degrades and is absorbed over a period of 18-24 months, leaving a healthy, functional nerve in its place.

“My lab has been looking at new therapies to reduce atrophy and keep muscles healthy as nerves regenerate,” Marra said. “So I kind of look at it as, okay, you have a nerve injury and we can regenerate it, but while it's regenerating, what can we do to help that muscle remain functional and healthy?”

 The name “Swan NeuroTech” is a play on Schwann cells - important cells that keep peripheral nerves alive - but it isn’t the only thing that’s new about the startup. In January 2024, Marra appointed Adjunct Assistant Professor of Bioengineering and alumnus Jeremy Kimmel (BioE PhD ‘11) as CEO, and the duo is ready to move Marra’s research from bench to bedside. 

“I'm really focused on taking all the research and transforming it into a commercial product,” Kimmel said. “From a regulatory standpoint and commercial standpoint, we’re also strategizing how to best position the science and understanding how to mitigate risk while we move the  technology forward.”

Kimmel was previously Senior Vice President at former Pitt startup ALung Technologies Inc. and worked briefly to transition the startup to global medtech company LivaNova. Kimmel decided the corporate world wasn’t for him— startups are where he thrives. 

“For me, doing something new and innovative is really important. If you're just doing something else that other people have done you're often not going to be successful,” Kimmel said. “It's not about money or prestige or being famous, it's about solving important clinical problems that don’t have any good solutions.”

Treating peripheral nerve damage is one of these clinical problems with a lack of effective solutions, and according to Kimmel, NeuraMAX could have various promising uses and make a big splash in the market.

“There's a huge opportunity here for pain management,” Kimmel said. “Nerve pain is a large market, and the ability to direct medications, whether it's pain drugs or nerve blocking agents, directly to the site of pain or injury, rather than using drugs like opiates, has a lot of different applications.” 

For Marra, with most of her work funded by the Department of Defense, her goal is to commercialize NeuraMAX to heal soldiers and veterans who suffer from nerve injuries. 

“Soldiers have body armor helmets but their arms and legs are exposed, so over half of injured soldiers end up with a nerve injury,” Marra said. “I once met a veteran who was shot through the calf muscle and it severed his nerve. He wasn't able to move his foot up and down or have any sensation, and there was nothing on the market that could help him.” 

NeuraMAX would not only be helpful for injured veterans, but would also help treat a large variety of nerve injuries that countless individuals face each year. 

“This would also help people that have nerve injuries from things like slips and falls, violence, car accidents, and machinery accidents,” Marra said. “If you have a tumor and you cut it out, you've cut nerves there as well.”

Kimmel is looking forward to getting things going with Swan NeuroTech, and as an adjunct professor, he’s optimistic about sharing his expertise with future entrepreneurs. 

“I think the Department of Bioengineering in particular is in a good position right now to help churn out really quality start ups,” Kimmel said. “I'm happy to be part of it, because I've been there and done it, so I can provide lessons of being in the trenches with FDA and fundraising, just to share my wins and losses with everyone.”