Bernadette Güpfert

The latest edition of Burns Open, the peer reviewed international journal, has published the case report of a 14-year-old who sustained deep flame burns involving 95% total body surface area burn (TBSA). As part of the treatment at the University Children’s Hospital Zurich, the patient received CUTISS’s denovoSkin grafts (12% TBSA) alongside other treatments.

The published paper is based on a one-year follow-up of the patient, who is doing well, and provides further proof of principle for denovoSkin use on massive burns over a long period of time. It also marks the first compassionate use of denovoSkin in Switzerland.

Specifically, the paper includes the following key points regarding denovoSkin:

• Four deliveries of 10 sheets each enabled us to cover about 12% of the patient‘s TBSA. Take rates were high (80–90%), irrespective of the wound bed preparation and early mobilisation of the patient.

• Results remained consistent showing natural, robust surfaces, near normal elasticity, and no hypertrophic scarring. Assessing the patients‘ skin over a course of several months since grafting, there were no significant skin contraction and secondary reconstructive surgery had not been necessary.

• Notably, there was no difference in take rates irrespective of location. Take rates were high even in notoriously delicate areas with high shearing forces such as the proximal dorsal thigh.

• Generally speaking, clinical assessments several months after application have shown that denovoSkin is maturing favourably, without instabilities or recurrent open wounds, and that hypertrophic scarring was not evident.

While the clinical evolution of this case will continue to be monitored and analysed, this paper provides very promising observations on the denovoSkin use in massive burns one year after its application on an adolescent.

The full report case can be read online, see link below.

denovoSkin promises to take skin surgery for burns to the next level and revolutionize current treatments. It is a bio-engineered and personalized dermo-epidermal human skin graft, currently in Phase IIb clinical trials in Switzerland and the European Union, with Orphan Drug Designation for the treatment of burns from Swissmedic, EMA, and FDA.

CUTISS is also developing the world’s first machine that can automate the entire production process of the personalized skin graft.

CUTISS AG is present with a booth at the EBA 2019 in Helsinki. Further information about the congress, also for the upcoming events of the EBA can be found under “Learn more”

Swiss researchers want to develop the first-ever automated machine to bioengineer personalised skin grafts for therapy. The denovoCast project, a collaboration between life science start-up Cutiss AG and CSEM, has been awarded a grant of more than CHF 800’000 by Innosuisse.

CUTISS reaches milestone: publication of Phase I of the Clinical Studies of denovoSkin!

The denovoFix transport box was developed by Astrid Welti as a Bachelor Thesis in cooperation with the Zürcher Hochschule der Künste (ZHdK).