Hylomorph Got EIC Accelerator Cash for Implant Wraps, Then Pivoted

Hylomorph AG, an ETH Zurich spin-off based at Technopark Zurich, was selected in the October 2019 cut-off of the EIC Accelerator pilot for ESPREE, a project to bring Hylomate to market: a pouch of micro-engineered biosynthesized cellulose that wraps pacemakers and defibrillators to stop scar tissue, bleeding and infection in the surgical pocket. The European Commission's list of selected companies names Hylomorph AG of Zurich as a grant-only winner and lists no partner company for the project. CORDIS records an EU contribution of €1,493,865 towards total costs of €2,134,093.75, with Hylomorph as the only beneficiary, from 1 May 2020 to 30 April 2023.

The project closed with a clinical study completed but no market approval. Today the company's website no longer mentions Hylomate. It presents Vesta, a resorbable envelope that releases antibiotics, with the note "medical device under development". In August 2026 the Swiss commercial register deleted the entries of two of the three co-founders listed on the company's own management page, according to Zefix.

Where Hylomorph Stands Now

Hylomorph is an existing company in the commercial register of the canton of Zurich, with its last register change published on 7 August 2026, according to Zefix. Two entries from the summer of 2026 stand out. On 4 August the Swiss Official Gazette of Commerce (SHAB) published the deletion of the signing authority of Francesco Robotti, and on 7 August the departure of Aldo Ferrari as vice-president of the board. Hylomorph's website still lists Robotti as COO and Ferrari as CSO, both as co-founders. Whether they still work for the company is not public.

The two sources also disagree on the board. The website names Giovanni Leo as chairman. The register shows Gian Luigi Berini as president of the board since July 2021 and Leo as a board member since April 2023, with no later change of president published in SHAB.

The company is still showing signs of activity. Its homepage lists stands at Medica in Düsseldorf in November 2026 and at the EHRA and HRS cardiology congresses in 2027. In October 2025 Hylomorph staff co-authored a preclinical study of Vesta in the journal Europace, which the company funded.

The Technology: From a Cellulose Barrier to an Antibiotic Envelope

Every pacemaker or defibrillator triggers a foreign body reaction: the body wraps the device in fibrous tissue. When the battery runs out after years and the device is replaced, surgeons must cut through this tissue, which raises the risk of bleeding, infection and damaged leads. Hylomate was meant to stop that. It is a non-resorbable membrane of cellulose grown by bacteria, with a surface patterned at microscale. In a study of 16 minipigs, published in Biomaterials by ETH Zurich and German Heart Center Berlin researchers including Hylomorph's founders, pacemakers wrapped in the membrane had on average 66% thinner fibrotic tissue than unwrapped ones. The Wyss Zurich translational centre, which hosted the team from 2015 to 2022, describes the same approach.

The established alternative is an antibiotic envelope such as TYRX, which is the comparator in Hylomorph's own Vesta study. A 2021 study by Mayo Clinic researchers in the International Journal of Cardiology: Heart & Vasculature already tested Hylomate soaked in antibiotics and found less staphylococcal biofilm on it than on titanium, silicone or polyurethane in the lab.

Vesta goes further in that direction and drops the cellulose. According to the Europace paper, it is a knitted sleeve of absorbable polyglycolic acid fibres with an absorbable film carrying 11.9 mg of rifampin and 7.6 mg of minocycline. In sheep, it released antibiotics over a longer period than TYRX and was easier to shape around the device. The authors state that "clinical validation of the Vesta will be obtained after regulatory approval". The product page lists neuromodulation as "coming soon" and orthopaedics, breast reconstruction, surgical meshes and ventricular assist devices as pipeline.

What ESPREE Promised, and What the Record Shows

CORDIS gives the objective as making Hylomate the first protection "to all implantable medical devices in contact with soft tissues from foreign body reaction", starting with pacemakers, implantable defibrillators and cardiac resynchronisation devices, with breast reconstruction, aesthetics and nerve repair "under development". The final periodic report, covering May 2021 to April 2023, says that completing ESPREE would put Hylomorph in a position to raise another round and "set-up sales and marketing forces in the US and Europe".

On the clinical side the report is positive. It says 35 patients had been implanted for more than a year and completed all four follow-up visits, the longest implant had reached 38 months, and the independent safety board found no device-related adverse events. It states that the results were "within statistical conditions" to show that the primary and secondary endpoints were met. The first implant took place at the German Heart Center Berlin, reported moneycab in February 2020, and a positive safety review of the first 10 patients was announced in mid-2021 by Wyss Zurich and startupticker.

The full results of that study have not appeared in a peer-reviewed journal: a PubMed search for Hylomate finds only the 2021 laboratory study. The only deliverable listed on the CORDIS results page is marketing material "in preparation for product launch". No launch followed. A search of the FDA's 510(k) data through openFDA returns no clearance for Hylomorph, and the company has announced no CE certificate.

1. Clinical study in cardiac devicesDelivered35 patients past one year, no device-related adverse events (CORDIS report).
2. Follow-on financing roundDeliveredCHF 5.2M Series B in 2021, CHF 4.5M Series B2 in 2023.
3. CE mark and FDA clearance for HylomateNot achievedNone announced; no 510(k) on record.
4. Sales and marketing in the US and EuropeNot achievedNo launch or customer announced; Hylomate no longer on the website.
5. Breast reconstruction and nerve repair usesNot achievedStill listed as pipeline, now for Vesta.
6. Peer-reviewed clinical resultsPartialEHRA abstract submitted per CORDIS; no journal paper found.

CORDIS lists the €1,493,865 as an EU contribution paid to Hylomorph under the Horizon 2020 SME Instrument budget line. The EIC Fund's list of invested companies, checked across all 16 pages, does not include Hylomorph, which fits the grant-only award.

The Money Since the Award

Hylomorph has financed itself through Swiss angel networks and regional funds. It raised CHF 3.2 million in a Series A in September 2018 and then said the money would fund the clinical studies "required for FDA approval and CE certification expected in 2021", according to Wyss Zurich. In December 2021 it closed a CHF 5.2 million Series B co-led by Geneva Smart Invest and Start Angels Network, plus CHF 0.9 million in non-dilutive funding, again to reach "FDA and CE mark approval", reported startupticker and Wyss Zurich.

In September 2023 it closed a CHF 4.5 million Series B2 led by EFI Lake Geneva Ventures and won CHF 2.4 million from the Innosuisse Swiss Accelerator programme, according to Wyss Zurich and the Club degli Investitori, one of the investors. The Club's announcement said the Innosuisse money would fund a clinical programme in "a large group of patients", and that the company was "exploring new indications in neurostimulation as well as the integration of therapeutic agents". That last phrase describes the route to Vesta. No larger clinical study has been announced since.

The register confirms the rounds. Share capital rose from CHF 100,000 to CHF 288,550.60, with new preferred shares of classes A, B and B2 created in 2018, 2021 and 2023, according to the SHAB entries listed on Zefix. No capital change has been published since July 2023. Revenue, losses and staff numbers are not public.

Hylomorph is also a partner in STOP SPREAD BAD BUGS, an EU-funded Marie Skłodowska-Curie doctoral network on new antibiotics coordinated by Erasmus MC in Rotterdam, running from September 2022 to August 2027. CORDIS lists a net EU contribution of €446,439.60 for Hylomorph. A 2026 paper in Biofilm with a Hylomorph affiliation tested antimicrobial peptides on biosynthesized cellulose against Staphylococcus aureus.

Why Europe Should Care

When a cardiac implant becomes infected, medical guidelines recommend removing the whole device, and Hylomorph's Vesta page cites a real-world infection rate of 1 in 18 in high-risk patients. Preventing such infections, and the antibiotic treatment that follows them, falls under the EU's One Health action against antimicrobial resistance, which calls for stronger infection prevention and control. A Swiss-made envelope would add a European supplier to this niche, but only once one reaches the market.

The Verdict

To be fair, an EIC grant pays for development, not for success. Hylomorph used it to run what the CORDIS report calls a successful clinical study, raised CHF 9.7 million in equity after the award and stays active in research. Why Hylomate was not taken to approval has not been explained publicly. Hylomorph was not asked for comment for this article, which is based on public records and published statements, linked throughout.