Clinical Cell Culture expands market

WA based Clinical Cell Culture (C3) has signed a deal with US company Ventrex to manufacture the company’s ReCell autologous skin harvesting device, primarily for the plastic and cosmetic surgery markets.

C3 has previously relied predominantly on the burns-related treatment business for its product, but this deal will expand the potential market significantly, and reduce C3’s exposure to seasonal variations in the burns treatment market, said the company’s CEO, Troels Jordansen.

“With ReCell, (we) will enter some of the fastest growing surgical specialities... ReCell represents a significantly larger market opportunity (for us) than the burns market,” he added.

The ReCell device will be the first of its kind, and will allow surgeons to treat a dollar-sized area of skin within 30 minutes of taking a skin biopsy. Selling for “between $800 and $1500”, according to Jordansen, the device will open up a significant new market for C3 in the areas of scar revision, small burns, vitiligo and small epithelial defects.

“This agreement is a very positive result of many months of focused and dedicated product development work by C3. ReCell is a complicated device, containing electrical, biological and pharmaceutical components... now we have one company (Ventrex) coordinating global production [and] substantially simplifying our sourcing activities,” said Jordansen.

The company said it now intends to submit the device for TGA and CE approval, and set up a distributor network in time for full-scale marketing to Australian and European plastic and cosmetic surgeons in 2004.