Reykjavik/Isafjordur, Iceland, November 3, 2010 — Kerecis ehf, the emerging tissue-regeneration company, today announced that its Chairman G. Fertram Sigurjonsson will make presentations at investment forums this week and next.
The first, the London Seed Forum, takes place at the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development on Thursday, November 4. The second takes place in New York on Tuesday, November 9.
Kerecis, which recently raised $700,000 from Iceland’s New Business Venture Fund, is looking to close further financing by the first quarter of 2011. The money will be used to complete regulatory registration and complete the ongoing clinical trial of the company’s product, the Marigen Lipid Enhanced Matrix.
This patent-pending, marine-derived, tissue-regeneration product has applications across multiple medical-device sectors including wound care and abdominal wall reconstruction.
Statistics show a large need for wound care. Each year about 6 million Americans suffer from problem wounds caused by diabetes, circulatory problems and other conditions, with 1.1 to 1.8 million new cases added each year.
More than 20 million Americans have diabetes; almost 20 percent of whom are over the age of 60. Fully 15 percent of all diabetics develop problem wounds, and more than 100,000 diabetics undergo amputation each year because of such wounds in the United States alone.
Also, more than 1 million hernia repair operations are performed annually in the U.S. A staggering 10 to 25 percent of these patients have postoperative pain and discomfort, and a substantial number of patients have to be re-admitted.
According to Sigurjonsson, Marigen offers significant advantages over existing human-and porcine (pig)-derived products, including lower risk of disease transfer, better manufacturing economics, and the absence of religious and cultural constraints on usage. The product is easier to use than most competing biologic products because it is softer and more conformable, and because it comes in larger, thicker sheets, eliminating the need for multi-layer grafts. For hernia repair the Marigen technology offers better durability and cell-integration capability than other products on the market.
Comments:
Gudmundur Fertram Sigurjonsson, Kerecis Founder and CEO:
“The effective treatment of chronic, nonhealing wounds is a major unmet need in modem health care. Preliminary results from our clinical trials are very encouraging and we expect to have regulatory approval for our products on major markets like the U.S. within a few months. At the seed forums we will be updating the investor community about our progress to encourage additional investor and potential partner interest in our programs.”
About Kerecis
Kerecis (https://www.kerecis.com) is a development and manufacturing business producing a novel, patent-pending tissue-regeneration material derived from fish skin to accelerate the healing of wounds and tissue reconstruction. Kerecis’ material addresses the large unmet need of the double-digit growth biologics segment of the chronic-wounds and hernia-repair markets. The material offers advantages over existing human- and porcine-derived products, including improved manufacturing economics and lower risk of disease transfer. Since it is derived from fish, the material is both kosher and halal compatible, eliminating cultural and religious constraints on usage, with equivalent or better clinical performance. For more information, e-mail info@kerecis.com or call 703-879-6535 (U.S.) or 354-8494960 (Iceland).
For further information, contact:
Gudmundur Fertram Sigurjónsson, Founder and CEO, Kerecis
Phone (Iceland) +354 8494960 / (U.S.) (703) 879-6535
E-mail: gfs@kerecis.com
