York Pharma gets Wellcome funding for development of woundcare product

Development funding

York Pharma plc has received £100,014 from the UK research charity, the Wellcome Trust for the development of a cell-free dressing to accelerate re-epithelialisation in partial thickness burns wounds.

In return 526,389 York Pharma shares have been conditionally placed with the Wellcome Trust.

The funding follows York Pharma’s acquisition in October of the assets of the Sheffield University spin-out Celltran for £70,000. This brought two wound healing products Myskin, a skin replacement product derived from recipient biopsies, and Cryoskin, made from donor skin cells, along with the associate production facilities, into York Pharma’s portfolio.

The Wellcome Trust Translation Award will be used to develop a cell-free dressing to accelerate re-epithelialisation in partial thickness burns wounds.  The approach aims to speed up the migration of skin cells and reduce their ability  to contract the wound bed. York will combine this approach with in house plasma polymer technology to promote guidance of the cells to the wound area. 

The new product will be manufactured at the Celltran production facility. York says dressing will complement its current product portfolio and form part of the normal treatment regimen for burns patients.