OVERVIEW
Each year burn injuries claim the lives of 180,000 victims worldwide, and 40,000 Americans are hospitalized. Human donor allografts are an effective mainstay - the clinical “gold standard” - in the treatment of severe burns. This tissue, however, is notoriously limited, with only 39,000 deceased human donors in the United States each year. XenoTherapeutics’ supply of live-cell porcine skin provides the same fundamental mechanism of action that achieves wound closure, preventing infections and fluid loss while decreasing pain and improving patient outcomes.
Logistical constraints, a finite population of donors, and testing limitations related to timing and tissue recovery are root causes of the human donor allograft shortage. Patients with burns covering 20% or more of the total body surface area cannot risk receiving their own skin from unharmed parts of the body.
XenoTherapeutics has focused on this critical societal need with the development of its first product, Xeno-Skin™, the only live-cell xenotransplantation product that temporary restores a wound’s barrier and allows for full closure. It consists of pathogen-free swine tissue that functions on a wound site equally as well as human donor allograft skin, providing a full-wound closure that helps retain critical electrolytes supporting skin regeneration underneath.
Xeno-Skin™ has been cleared by the FDA for investigational use and aims to catalyze the science of xenotransplantation while also addressing a critically unmet need for burns and other severe skin wounds.
The XenoTherapeutics’ pipeline begins with skin but envisions multiple applications of the technology to produce viable solutions to the current worldwide shortage of transplant products in a manner that is patient-driven, efficient, and cost-effective.