A UK bio-technology company has developed artificial skin that has produced promising results in healing wounds in early clinical trials.
Intercytex, which specialises in cell therapy, said Tuesday, its laboratory-made living skin appears to work better than other substitutes tried in the past, which biodegrade in situ after a few weeks.
Results of the tests, published in the journal Regenerative Medicine, showed that Intercytex’s artificial skin, ICX-SKN, was fully integrated into the body after 28 days, producing a healed wound site.
Intercytex now plans to test ICX-SKN on larger wounds in clinical trials that would generate sufficient data to seek a marketing license.
Current best practice for serious wounds is to use a skin graft taken from a different part of the patient’s own body – but this is a painful process and creates a new wound.
ICX-SKN is made up of a matrix produced by the same skin cells – fibroblasts – that are responsible for laying down the collagen in natural skin. The fibroblasts weave a structure which mimics real skin.
“To have an off-the-shelf skin replacement product that can be used on a large numbers of patients will revolutionise the treatment of burned and skin-damaged patients,” Stephen Minger, an expert in cell biology at King’s College in London, commented. Intercytex founder Paul Kemp hopes to develop a range of cell-based implants that can regenerate lost tissue.
Intercytex, which specialises in cell therapy, said Tuesday, its laboratory-made living skin appears to work better than other substitutes tried in the past, which biodegrade in situ after a few weeks.
Results of the tests, published in the journal Regenerative Medicine, showed that Intercytex’s artificial skin, ICX-SKN, was fully integrated into the body after 28 days, producing a healed wound site.
Intercytex now plans to test ICX-SKN on larger wounds in clinical trials that would generate sufficient data to seek a marketing license.
Current best practice for serious wounds is to use a skin graft taken from a different part of the patient’s own body – but this is a painful process and creates a new wound.
ICX-SKN is made up of a matrix produced by the same skin cells – fibroblasts – that are responsible for laying down the collagen in natural skin. The fibroblasts weave a structure which mimics real skin.
“To have an off-the-shelf skin replacement product that can be used on a large numbers of patients will revolutionise the treatment of burned and skin-damaged patients,” Stephen Minger, an expert in cell biology at King’s College in London, commented. Intercytex founder Paul Kemp hopes to develop a range of cell-based implants that can regenerate lost tissue.