Our second product is anticipated to be TempaDerm®. TempaDerm® uses cells obtained from human donors to develop banks of cryo-preserved (frozen) cells and cultured skin substitute to provide a continuous supply of non-allogenic skin substitutes to treat much smaller wound areas on patients, such as ulcers. This product has applications in the treatment of chronic skin wounds such as diabetic ulcers, decubitus ulcers and venous stasis ulcers. This product is similar to our burn indication product except for the indications and TempaDerm® does not depend totally on autologous cells. In fact, it could be possible to use the excess cultured skin that was originally produced for use on the patient that donated the cells used to grow the skin. TempaDerm® could take this original cultured skin and use it on a patient other than the original donor. TempaDerm® has the possibility of using banked cells, or even frozen cultured skin substitutes, to carry inventory to satisfy unknown needs or large volumes to meet the demands created in large scale disasters.
We believe this technology has many different uses beyond the burn indication. The other uses include chronic wounds, reconstructive surgery, other complex organs and tissues. Some of the individual components of our cultured skin substitute technology will be developed for devices, such as tendon wraps made of collagen or collagen temporary coverings of large area wounds to protect the patients from infections while waiting for the permanent skin substitute. The collagen technology used for cultured skin substitutes can be used for many different applications in wound healing and stem cell technology and even drug delivery systems.
We could pursue any or all of the indications simultaneously if financing permitted, but for now we will seek approval for burns first as an Orphan Biologic Product to establish significant safety data and then Biological License Approval.