Texas Company Develops New Liquid Bandage

Rochal Industries is a small, privately-held research company that’s been operating under the radar in San Antonio for years — despite the fact that its founders invented the first no-sting, liquid bandage in the late 1980s.

Fast-forward to the present: Rochal Industries has released a new wound care product.

The Biakos antimicrobial skin and wound cleanser is designed to remove harmful microbes from post-surgical wounds, pressure ulcers, diabetic foot ulcers and burns. The spray, released in May, is distributed by Rochal’s Fort Worth-based sister company Sanara MedTech.

Sanara President Shawn Bowman said the product is selling with clinicians. But he declined to provide financial details.

“We are gaining product awareness all over the country and excited about future of this brand,” he said in an email.

Rebecca McMahon, who was named president of the company last week, said Rochal plans to release five more wound care products within the next three years. The company operates out of a small building on 12000 Network Boulevard near USAA’s North Side campus.

The firm’s next product, called Bioshield, a spray-on silicone skin protectant for use by health care professionals, recently received FDA approval and is expected to go on the market in 2020.

McMahon, 33, joined the company four years ago, working on its scientific team. She said she was drawn to biotechnology after watching her father suffer with kidney disease when she was in high school.

In the past several years, the company has collaborated with locally based Incell, UT Health San Antonio, University of Texas at San Antonio and the military, she said.

McMahon said that while she can’t provide much detail, the company started working with Incell several years ago. Two years ago, the two companies began developing a product — similar to a scaffold — to repair severe tissue damage.

Since joining Rochal, McMahon has worked alongside former president and scientist Ann Beal Salamone.

Salamone chairs Rochal’s board of directors, and said she’s ready for the next generation of leadership to take the reins.

Her huband and Rochal’s co-founder, Joseph Salamone, died July 9 at 79 of prostate cancer.

On ExpressNews.com: Inventor, business owner leaves mark on San Antonio research community

The couple started the company in Boston with four other families in 1986 when they developed the liquid bandage, which they licensed to 3M.

Joseph Salamone also commercialized the world's first oxygen-permeable contact lenses, which eventually was sold to eye health company Bausch + Lomb, and amassed hundreds of patents for his inventions.

The couple moved to San Antonio in 2008 when their daughter was in UT Health medical school and decided to continue to grow Rochal Industries.

“We realized we needed to get all of the scientists back together and develop new products,” she said.

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