Avita awarded $450K from US armed forces to speed approval of spray-on skin

Funding

Avita Medical Ltd, has been awarded a further $450,000 from the US Armed Forces Institute of Regenerative Medicine, to expedite approval of the company’s ReCell autologous spray-on skin in the US market.

The award is in addition to the $1.45 million granted to Avita by the institute in May 2009.

The additional funding follows recognition of the value of ReCell in the Department of Defense’s regenerative medicine programme, which was set up in April 2008 to apply regenerative techniques to the treatment of wounded soldiers.

Avita Medical CEO William Dolphin said the original grant and the additional funding is a substantial endorsement. “The Department of Defense has recognized the major benefits which ReCell provides to patients and surgeons, with improved outcomes and decreased morbidity. It should also result in significant reduction in costs to the healthcare system and third party payers with reduced hospitalisation times and ongoing treatment costs.”

ReCell is a standalone skin harvesting and preparation device that enables a surgeon to prepare a solution of skin cells within 30 minutes on site, replacing the need for skin grafts or cell culturing in laboratories. The resulting solution of immune-compatible cells is then sprayed on to treat burns, or for plastic, reconstructive and aesthetic procedures.