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Surendra Batra, former vice president of product development at Integra LifeSciences, has opened his own research company on Deer Park Drive.
CollaFirm, which develops collagen-based technologies and products for implants and surgical applications, is the latest endeavor for Batra, who until last March spent eight years with Providence-based Davol. At Davol Batra served as chief consultant of all collagen-based agents used in general surgical applications — an avenue that represented 18 percent of parent company C.R. Bard’s total sales, amounting to $350 million in 2006.
Batra helped Davol develop Bard CollaMend, an all-natural biological implant for tissue repair, and the absorbable collagen hemostatic sponge, Avitene.
From 1992 to 1999 Batra oversaw regenerative product development at Integra, where he was involved in researching, developing, and obtaining FDA approval for absorbable collagen surgical products including INTEGRA Artificial Skin, Helitene, and BioMend. Prior to that he was chief scientist and manager of R&D for Integra’s West Chester, Pennsylvania, subsidiary, ABS Life Sciences, and chief scientist at Norristown-based Semex.
Batra earned his bachelor’s in physics, math, and chemistry from Agra University in 1965. He earned his master’s degrees in organic chemistry from Meerut University in 1970, and in medical biochemistry from Maulana Azad Medical College in New Dehli in 1977. In 1983 Batra received his Ph.D. in invented and synthesized radioactive azidoacridine studies at Reading University in England. He also holds a post-doctorate in enzymology and protein chemistry from the University of Delaware.