WSW, NY, January 29th, 2026, FinanceWire
As the CTP bubble deflates, MediWound’s EscharEx seems to be emerging as a rare opportunity combining regulatory rigor with near-term strategic relevance (NASDAQ:MDWD)
The U.S. wound care market is undergoing a transformation that astute investors should be watching closely. For years, a Medicare reimbursement regime for cellular and tissue-based products (CTPs) distorted capital flows and valuations across the sector, channeling billions toward products with limited clinical differentiation. That era is now being curtailed, and with it a clearer picture is emerging of where durable value actually resides in wound care.
This isn’t a story of an industry in decline – it’s a story of an industry maturing. As CMS restructures payment frameworks and policymakers push toward more standardized, outcomes-focused utilization, the market is once again rewarding what should have mattered all along: rigorous clinical data, traditional regulatory pathways, and genuine therapeutic differentiation.
For investors, these types of resets often create compelling opportunities. The companies best positioned to capture value aren’t those scrambling to adapt – they’re the ones that were already building evidence-based assets through conventional development pathways while others chased easier money. One small-cap name appears to fit this profile remarkably well: MediWound Ltd. (NASDAQ: MDWD), an Israel-based biotechnology company that spent years quietly advancing a late-stage biologic through rigorous Phase 2 development and into global ongoing Phase 3 clinical trial. That disciplined approach now looks increasingly well-timed.
A Differentiated Late-Stage Asset
MediWound’s lead pipeline asset, EscharEx, is being developed for the well-established enzymatic debridement segment – an existing market with more than $360 million in estimated annual U.S. sales coming from only one product – SANTYL, currently served by a single legacy product first approved in 1965. Unlike programs seeking to create entirely new treatment categories, EscharEx targets a proven market with clear clinical benchmarks, established reimbursement, and well-understood treatment economics. It should be noted that $360 million in annual sales places SANTYL as one of the largest brands in the advanced wound care industry.
The clinical case supporting the program is already compelling. In head-to-head Phase 2 studies, EscharEx demonstrated significant superiority over the market-leading collagenase ointment across multiple endpoints: 63% of EscharEx-treated patients achieved complete debridement at two weeks versus 0% for the comparator. Median time to wound bed preparation was 11 days for EscharEx versus not achieved for the incumbent. Among patients whose wounds closed, mean time to closure was 48 days versus 76 days.
These results represent more than incremental improvement. They point to a potential step-change in how chronic wounds could be prepared for healing in routine clinical practice.
Industry Validation at Scale
Perhaps the most telling indicator of EscharEx’s strategic relevance is the breadth of industry engagement it has attracted. MediWound has established research collaborations with multiple global leaders in wound care, including Mölnlycke, Solventum (NASDAQ:SOLV), MIMEDX (NASDAQ:MDXG), Coloplast (CPH: COLO_B), Essity (STO: ESSITY_B), and Convatec (LON:CTEC), all of whom are contributing to EscharEx’s ongoing clinical programs.
This level of participation goes beyond routine trial support. It reflects sustained interest from companies that would be natural commercial partners, or eventual acquirers, of a differentiated enzymatic debridement platform. Mölnlycke’s $15 million strategic investment and collaboration agreement, which includes rights to participate in defined strategic and M&A discussions, offers a particularly clear signal of how industry leaders are evaluating the asset.
The Commercial Opportunity
Based on third-party market research and company analyses, EscharEx is targeting a total addressable U.S. market exceeding $2.5 billion, with projected peak sales in excess of $800 million under a scenario of approximately 22% market penetration. The program is currently being evaluated in a global Phase 3 pivotal trial (VALUE) in venous leg ulcers, with a predefined interim assessment planned for the second half of 2026. In parallel, MediWound is preparing three additional studies to help solidify and broaden its commercial potential; a head-to-head Phase 2 study against collagenase, a diabetic foot ulcer development program supported by the European Innovation Council funding, and an initial proof-of-concept study on pressure ulcers, the third of the three large chronic wound types.
Importantly, MediWound brings demonstrated operational credibility to this opportunity. Its first product, NexoBrid, is already FDA-approved and gaining commercial traction in the U.S. through partner Vericel (Nasdaq: VCEL), which recently reported 52% year-over-year revenue growth for the franchise. A sixfold manufacturing expansion reached full operational readiness by the end of 2025, underscoring the company’s ability to scale production to support future demand.
Timing, Catalysts, and Potential Market Re-rating
From a market perspective, the coming clinical milestones for EscharEx represent more than routine development updates. Interim assessment from a global Phase 3 program, particularly in a space with a decades-old standard of care, has the potential to serve as a meaningful inflection point for how the asset is perceived.
At present, some investors may view MediWound primarily through the lens of its NexoBrid commercial business, with limited value ascribed to EscharEx ahead of later-stage readouts. As the Phase 3 program progresses, that framing could begin to shift. Events of this nature often force the market to more explicitly price platform-level optionality, particularly when supported by prior head-to-head efficacy data and visible strategic interest from industry participants.
Whether through continued clinical validation, expanded partnering discussions, or strategic interest from incumbents seeking growth in a normalized reimbursement environment, the next phases of EscharEx’s development appear closely aligned with a period in which the market is reassessing what constitutes durable value in wound care.
Why the Market Might Want to Pay Attention
The thesis is ultimately straightforward. As wound care moves away from reimbursement-driven proliferation and back toward evidence-based medicine, late-stage biologics developed through traditional regulatory pathways are structurally advantaged. EscharEx represents one of the few late-stage assets that combines demonstrated in Phase 2 studies clinical superiority in a large existing segment, an established reimbursement framework and active strategic engagement from industry leaders.
In a market increasingly rewarding rigor over shortcuts, that combination is becoming harder to find.
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