The Memo: Medcura Bringing the Future of Bleeding Control to Spine Surgery

Under the direction of President and CEO Jim Buck, Medcura is advancing a new era of bleeding control with a patented biopolymer platform. With a flowable gel derived from shellfish and engineered for biocompatibility, Medcura’s LifeGel is now moving into GLP studies and aims to become the new standard of care for surgical bleeding management in spinal surgery and beyond. 

Origin Story

Buck’s path to Medcura began in 2018, when the company’s board approached him with a clear vision: replicate the playbook and success he had at Closure Medical, a biosurgery startup he helped lead to a ~$370 million acquisition by Johnson & Johnson. At the time, Medcura had already shown promising results for its biopolymer platform in trauma and topical care. The next step was to adapt it for internal surgical use, a much larger and more complex market.

“I thought it was a big idea, and I really liked the team,” said Buck. “The science was strong, the team was credible, and the challenge was compelling.”

Buck joined the board and spent four years helping the company advance through a critical phase of initial preclinical feasibility and demonstration of safety for the core biopolymer. The breakthrough came when Medcura’s scientific team developed a novel biochemistry process to preserve the hemostatic and bacteriostatic properties of chitosan, while neutralizing the aspects of the chemistry that had historically prevented its internal use.

That innovation opened the door to using the platform inside the body in a resorbable form. When the team reached that milestone, the board asked Buck to step in as CEO. Since stepping in as CEO, he has scaled the company to 32 employees and, over the last 16 months alone, closed financing rounds totaling over $34 million to fuel Medcura’s next stage of growth.

The Current Landscape

Medcura’s platform addresses a critical challenge in the $2.5 billion U.S. surgical resorbable hemostasis market. Current market-dominating flowable gels are made with thrombin, a blood-derived protein that must be extracted and purified at high cost. These flowable gels also tend to swell after application, creating potential serious risks when used in confined anatomical spaces like the spine.

In contrast, Medcura’s LifeGel does not swell, does not rely on thrombin, and is ready to use without mixing or preparation. The result is a product that Medcura aims to show is safer, simpler, and more cost-effective than market incumbents. “We believe that we will demonstrate a decisive safety feature over the current standard of care, particularly in spinal surgery,” said Buck. “This product is going to be the next standard of care in surgical bleeding management.”

LifeGel’s lead indication is spine surgery, a segment that represents nearly two-thirds of the flowable gel market. With FDA Breakthrough Device Designation already in hand, Medcura is preparing for GLP studies that will pave the way for human trials.

Inside the Innovation

Medcura’s patented biopolymer begins with raw chitosan, a compound naturally found in the shells of crustaceans. The company sources this material from shellfish harvested along the north coast of Iceland. Once the allergenic proteins are removed, the chitosan arrives in powdered form. “This is the same raw chitosan that has been used for 40 to 50 years. In itself, it’s a very effective hemostat, but it should not be left inside the body,” Buck explained.

To overcome that limitation, Medcura developed a proprietary multi-step modification process. The raw powder is placed in a reactor containing a specialized solvent, then combined with fatty acids and copolymers. Through a controlled biochemical curing process, the material is transformed. Once the reaction is complete, the solvents are extracted, leaving behind a newly engineered powder: a hydrophobically modified, biocompatible chitosan that preserves the molecule’s original hemostatic and antimicrobial properties.

This modified powder forms the basis of Medcura’s product platform. Its versatility enables the creation of both flowable gels for surgical use and over-the-counter wound care products.

Key features include:

• No swelling: May help avoid risks associated with swelling hemostatic agents, such as paralysis and vessel compression
• Ready to use: Can be stored at room temperature and requires no mixing or preparation
• Cost-effective: Purposefully designed to be cost-effective and sustainable to produce
• Bacteriostatic: May reduce bacterial colonization 
• Transparent: Allows visibility of bleeding lesions during surgery
• Mucoadherent: Sticks to vertical and inverted tissues 

The technology has been validated in a comprehensive series of small and large mammal studies, including acute and chronic testing. “The efficacy is obvious for any surgeon who visits our lab,” Buck said. “The focus now is on proving safety through clinical assessment and histopathology.”

Progress and Milestones

Medcura’s trajectory reflects its transition from scientific breakthrough to commercial opportunity. Key milestones to date include:

• Closed the first $12.5 million in its Series B, with intent to close another $10+ million in the latter half of 2025
• Received a 2024/2025 Best Technology in Spine Award for LifeGel
• Received FDA Breakthrough Device designation for its potential safety advantages over the current standard of care, particularly in spine surgery
• Extensive acute and chronic preclinical testing in both small and large animal models
• Rapidly growing consumer business, with products available at major U.S. retailers including Walmart, CVS, Walgreens, and Amazon
• Consumer product revenue tripled from 2023 to 2024, with Q1 2025 revenue already exceeding all of 2024

Buck was also nominated for and named a finalist for the 2025 Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of the Year award and emphasized the company’s ability to attract top-tier talent from across the industry. “I’ve recruited the most accomplished and skilled people in this industry segment, based on the Medcura value proposition,” he said.

Join Us at LSI Europe ’25

Buck has been selected to present at LSI Europe ’25 (September 7–11) in front of hundreds of global medical technology companies. Join us in welcoming him to the event in London, where he will share the latest updates on Medcura’s technology and development.