OREANDA-NEWS. Avita Medical's autologous skin healing technology shows strong effectiveness in treating burns, chronic wounds and aesthetics, and will help strained public health budgets, according to a comprehensive review of data presented at a scientific symposium by a leading Regenerative Medicine journal, the Company said today.

Avita Medical Limited (ASX: AVH) (OTCQX: AVMXY), a regenerative medicine company specializing in new treatments for wounds and skin defects, ran the 4th Skin Regeneration Symposium (SRS) in Cambridge, UK in April 2016. Data from the event, presented by leading clinicians worldwide to the some 140 attendees, has now been published on RegMedNet.com, which is the online platform for peer-reviewed journal Regenerative Medicine.

The full three-part review together with clinician interviews are published with free access at Regenerative Medicine.

·      Part 1 covers the REPAIR session of the Symposium, focused on ReCell®, Avita's proprietary technology for the treatment of burns

·      Part 2, on the RESTART session which concentrated on ReGenerCell™, Avita's chronic wounds device that is used to treat long standing wounds such as Venous Leg Ulcers and Diabetic Foot Ulcers

·      Part 3 concludes with the RESTORE session which looked at the use of ReNovaCell™, Avita's device which covers aesthetic applications including vitiligo and scarring

During the Symposium, Regenerative Medicine interviewed leading clinicians about their experience pioneering Avita Medical's autologous skin healing technology based on its RES™ -- Regenerative Epithelial Suspension -- technology that uses just a small sample of the patient's skin. The experts had all presented strong clinical results in their various areas of expertise, and agreed that a call for action is now needed to move Avita's medical devices into mainstream medical practice, to improve lives of patients, whilst saving healthcare costs.

"This versatile technology could be used in a number of ways in the same patient without an incremental increase in cost, since length of stay can be reduced so dramatically," said Dr James H. Holmes IV, Wake Forest University School of Medicine. "That can have a huge impact on the healthcare system and society as a whole, since the patient is able to return to a functional state more quickly: whether that's going back to work, or driving a car."

His views were shared by Mr Paul Hayes, Vascular Surgeon at Addenbrooke's Hospital, who explained that VLUs consume 10-20% of vascular surgery clinic time, while great resources were also being spent on treating Britain's some 100,000 DFU patients(1). Mr Hayes said it was much cheaper to treat patients as an out-patient, which was one of the attractions to ReGenerCell™.

"If acute wounds are referred into secondary care earlier, we could actually stop them from being so difficult to treat," Mr Hayes commented. "With the exception of diabetic foot ulcers, chronic wounds have not become headline-grabbing conditions. So we need to have a group of interested individuals who can be dedicated to the cause."

Dr Nik Georgopoulos, Senior Lecturer, Department of Biological Sciences at the University of Huddersfield, supported Mr Hayes call for action, saying, "By supporting the way the device operates with biological evidence we are able to give more confidence to the clinicians who use it on its efficacy. The economic burden of chronic wounds is not in the range of the millions (of pounds), it's in the range of billions."

Adam Kelliher, CEO of Avita Medical, concluded: "Regenerative medicine and using the body's own healing responses is becoming more widespread in medical practice. The body of data supporting the efficacy of our devices is growing every day. Whilst mainstream adoption of new technologies rightly takes time, the clinicians pioneering our technology agree that barriers to widespread uptake need to be overcome. The use of Avita's technology positively impacts patients with quicker and more significant wound healing, less inconvenience and much less pain."

Indicators have shown Avita's technology also saves money for healthcare services when replacing or combined with traditional methods, the Company says. It will be gathering important pharmaco-economic data during its ongoing clinical studies, to support adoption of its products.

With data collected from over 6,000 procedures worldwide, Avita's patented technology is CE-marked for Europe, TGA-registered in Australia, and CFDA-cleared in China. In the United States, ReCell® is an investigational device limited by federal law to investigational use.

ABOUT AVITA MEDICAL LTD
Avita Medical develops and distributes regenerative products for the treatment of a broad range of wounds, scars and skin defects. Avita's patented and proprietary collection and application technology provides innovative treatment solutions derived from a patient's own skin. The company's lead product, ReCell®, is used in the treatment of a wide variety of burns, plastic, reconstructive and cosmetic procedures. ReCell® is patented, CE-marked for Europe, TGA-registered in Australia, and CFDA-cleared in China. In the United States, ReCell® is an investigational device limited by federal law to investigational use.