This family business from Ujazd, a town of less than 2,000 inhabitants in the Łódź Voivodeship, started 30 years ago with 5 employees and home-based production. Today, it has 35 employees, is set to open a modern facility this year, and its innovative hydrogel dressings are even found in the first aid kits of American soldiers.
The dressings from Ujazd have been helping to treat wounds for 30 years—burns, chronic wounds, as well as ordinary bruises, abrasions, and swellings. They are used in medical rescue operations by firefighters, soldiers, and police officers, as well as by doctors in surgical wards and plastic surgery clinics. For many years, they have been part of the personal equipment of U.S. Marine Corps soldiers. The products of Kikgel are also included in the Individual First Aid Kits (IFAK) of Polish army soldiers and medical rescuers. Behind the success of this company, which is a great example of combining business and science, stands one family—Mirosław Kik and his three sons.
The Origins of the Kik Family Dressings
The history of the dressings bearing the Kik family name dates back to 1986 and is linked to a patent from the Łódź University of Technology. As Mirosław Kik recalls, who at the time ran a company specializing in plastics, when the late Professor Janusz Rosiak and his team from the chemistry department developed a radiation method for creating hydrogels, he began producing molds for the dressings. Initially, when the patent was being implemented, the quantities were small, but over time, the numbers grew as clinical trials on the hydrogels began.
“First, I built a machine for these molds, but later, once I understood the technology of dressing production, it turned out I could produce them myself,” he says. He adds that later, students of Professor Rosiak would come to his facility in Ujazd for practical training. Research on the dressing lasted several years, and beyond Poland, it was also patented in the USA, Germany, and the UK. The company built its position through patience and belief in the innovative medical product. “The hydrogel was initially intended as a burn dressing, but during clinical trials, it turned out to aid in the healing of all hard-to-heal wounds and ulcers,” explains Mirosław, who in the 1990s bought the patent from the Łódź University of Technology. The success of the Ujazd hydrogels lies in their technology—the dressing contains 91% water, which, in addition to its soothing and cooling effects, primarily hydrates the wound well, aiding in the cleansing of pus and bacteria by essentially “sucking” them into the dressing.
Breakthrough in International Distribution
A breakthrough in international distribution came at the FIME medical trade fair in Miami. There, the Ujazd hydrogels caught the attention of a company supplying the U.S. military. The collaboration has now lasted a decade, and BurnTec hydrogels are a permanent part of the individual first aid kits of U.S. Marines.