A-SKIN seeks financing or business deal on preclinical studies with WHF and Tiscover (clinical phase II)
- High quality regenerative solution for patients with difficult to heal wounds – worldwide market estimated at $20.5 billion by 2020
- Swift follow-up research to bring WHF® into the clinic and patients
- WHF® second lead product to bring to the clinic after the skin substitute Tiscover® produced from patient's own skin cells
- Company in process of next financing round for early clinical study of WHF and phase II clinical trial with Tiscover®
- Compelling portfolio of three skin engineering therapies developed within the company, linked to Amsterdam VU University Medical Center
- Tiscover® and WHF® are patented
A-SKIN, a leading Dutch skin tissue engineering biotechnology company, developing new high quality cultured skin therapies for difficult to heal skin wounds, has secured a very important patent for its groundbreaking Wound Healing Formulation® therapy. The worldwide market for this indication is estimated at $20,5 billion by 2020. Furthermore A-SKIN’s lead product Tiscover® is ready to enter a clinical phase II trial after finalization of an ongoing financing round to raise € 7,5 million.
WHF®, short for Wound Healing Formulation®, is a substance which can be directly applied on a wound to stimulate the wound healing. WHF consists of wound healing factors secreted by cultured immortalized human skin cells, with the potential to vitalize the natural human wound healing process. WHF substance can be applied directly on the wound bed in a gel, blister, bandage etc. The target population is every one with a small simple skin wound which needs wound healing stimulation till small, large hard to heal wounds, for instance diabetic, venous and trauma. WHF is classified as a Non-Cell Based Medicinal Product at the European Medicine Agency (EMA).
Prof. dr. Rik J. Scheper, A-Skin’s CEO, comments:
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"Securing the IP of WHF means a very important milestone for our company, with now two ground breaking skin engineering products in our pipeline. Both WHF and Tiscover tap into a huge worldwide market for regenerative skin engineering medicine and non-healing chronic wound treatment. Some 50 million patients around the globe suffer from non-healing wounds following higher incidence of diabetes, ageing and growing immobilization. Therefore our solutions have a large societal impact by healing patients wounds, taking away the pain and giving back their self-esteem." |
WHF®
The preclinical research on WHF® was an EU-subsidized collaboration between A-SKIN and Amsterdam VU University medical center. To conduct the research and proceed in the near future master and working cell banks of the cell lines were established. All cell banks are stored in liquid nitrogen for further research. The cell lines underwent several culture medium switches. First they were cultured in their "original medium" as described by the delivering company, followed by A-Skin’s optimal "research grade medium", finally replaced by clinical grade medium. The project has generated a novel Wound Healing Formulation (WHF) based on the secretome of a co-culture of keratinocyte and fibroblast cell lines. The WHF increases wound-closure predominantly by stimulation of fibroblast and keratinocyte migration.
Method
For the production of WHF® a patented method for the preparation of a complex secretion is used. This comprises the steps of a) co-culturing defined numbers of immortalized human fibroblasts and keratinocytes, thereby producing an optimal mélange of wound healing mediators; and b) separating the secretion from the fibroblasts and keratinocytes. In this way, a very potent wound healing formulation (i.e. the secretion) is obt...
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