OREANDA-NEWS. Avita Medical Ltd, (ASX: AVH), (OTCQX: AVMXY), a regenerative medicine company specialising in new treatments for wounds and skin defects, has signed an exclusive distribution deal for China with the country's leading healthcare group, Sinopharm.

The deal, signed in Beijing on Thursday with Sinopharm's MedTech subsidiary, grants exclusive distribution of the Avita range of medical devices, which rapidly deliver a cellular suspension to trigger healing in burns, chronic wounds and aesthetic conditions. Avita has been active in the China market for five years, with sales in the main cities of Beijing, Shanghai and Guangzhou. Avita's focus to date has primarily been in the fields of plastics and repigmentation, with a presence in several leading hospitals, including Peking Union Medical College Hospital, Zhongshan University No.1 hospital, Shanghai No 9 Hospital and Beijing Air Force Hospital.

State-owned Sinopharm is the largest medical and healthcare group in the world's most populous country. It is involved in distribution, retail sales, R&D and the manufacture of various healthcare-related products, generating sales of RMB 200 billion (US$ 30 billion) in 2014. Sinopharm is the first Chinese pharmaceutical company to be listed in the Fortune Global 500 list, and the company is publicly traded on the Hong Kong exchange (Stock code: 01099. HK).

Avita said it had been drawn towards Sinopharm in part because of the group's wide reach, as it has offices in all main Chinese cities, and representation in 31 of the country's provinces and regions. The Company said achieving strong distribution in China was a key goal of its global commercialization strategy, given the size of the Chinese market, which has about 3.4 million people hospitalized with burns each year1 and around 1.4 million afflicted by vitiligo.2 Outside of these core markets, there was also great scope for expansion into cosmetic surgery and chronic wounds, the Company said.

"Sinopharm MedTech have a proven track record of building up strong recurrent sales of medical devices, and we greatly look forward to supporting their efforts in growing the China market," said Avita CEO Adam Kelliher. "Avita has already done a lot of the hard work in China and now is the time to build on this and work with a strong partner to address the clear need for our regenerative medicine products."

Ms. Qiu Shiru, General Manager of Sinopharm Group Med-Tech's Beijing office, said the company viewed ReCell® to be a "significant milestone product in the field of regenerative medicine, as it not only heals physical wounds, but also supports mental health. We regard it as a great honor to be the exclusive distributor of ReCell® in China, as it aligns with our business philosophy of "Caring for Life, Caring for Health".

Avita Medical will provide clinical support to the Sinopharm MedTech sales team and extended agent network, to help with interactions with medical professionals. The Company said the support strategy would also involve backing new research into Avita's regenerative medicine approach, given the positive interactions with Chinese researchers to date. Investigators in Guangzhou last year delivered the first randomized controlled trial to use the device on chronic wounds, which showed superior wound closure amongst those treated with ReCell®

The Chinese distributor deal is the eighth territory to be signed by Avita in the past three months, as the Company escalates its commercialization activities and expands its sales footprint.

ABOUT AVITA MEDICAL LIMITED

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 regenerative product portfolio includes ReCell® for burns & plastic reconstructive procedures, ReGenerCell® for chronic wounds and ReNovaCell® of restoration of pigmentation and cosmesis. ReCell®, ReGenerCell® and ReNovaCell® are patented, CE?marked for Europe. ReCell® is 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, and a pivotal U.S. trial is well underway aimed at securing FDA approval.

AVITA'S REGENERATIVE TECHNOLOGY AND RES™

Avita Medical's unique proprietary technology enables a clinician to rapidly create, at the point of care in approximately 30 minutes, Regenerative Epithelial Suspension (RES™) using a small sample of the patient's skin. RES™ is an autologous suspension comprising the cells and wound healing factors necessary to regenerate natural, healthy skin. RES™ has a broad range of applications and can be used to restart healing in unresponsive wounds, to repair burns using less donor skin yet with improved functional and aesthetic outcomes, and to restore pigmentation and improve cosmesis of damaged skin.