A Madison firm has developed a bacteria-fighting skin substitute that should help prevent infection from burns and other severe skin injuries.

Stratatech Corp. announced the innovation Tuesday in an article published online by the journal Molecular Therapy.

The bacteria-fighting skin substitute was developed without using a virus, which is believed to be the first time such an approach has been successful.

Tests showed the modified skin substitute contained 139 times more anti-infective proteins than unmodified tissue.

Bacterial infection is a major obstacle to wound healing and the primary reason for short-term skin graft failure.

Infection also adds significantly to hospital costs, with a 2004 study showing burn patients infected with the multi-drug resistant A. baumannii bacterium costing $100,000 more per hospital stay than patients not infected but with similar burns.

"Bacterial infection is a substantial cause of skin graft rejection and additional health care costs," said Stratatech founder and CEO Lynn Allen-Hoffmann. "The potent anti-infective capability Stratatech has engineered in our living human skin substitute can be an important tool in improving skin-injury patient outcomes and reducing the incidence and expense of hospital-acquired infections."

Stratatech is a private regenerative medicine company developing skin substitute products under license from the Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation.

The Capital Times - 2/03/2009 12:35 pm

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