BALTIMORE, September 5, 2018 — Kerecis, the company using fish skin to treat human wounds, will host a hands-on workshop at the American Professional Wound Care Association’s annual clinical conference, September 6 to 8. The workshop will focus on preparing the wound bed to facilitate cell ingrowth into the fish-skin product. Attendees will rotate through a series of workshops and will handle and prepare the acellular fish skin for use in wound care. The event, which is open to all conference attendees, will be held on Thursday, September 6, from 3 to 6 p.m. at Holiday Ballroom 1-3. Registration is not required. Attendees can get more information at the Kerecis booth 304.
Kerecis Omega3 is intact fish skin that, when grafted onto damaged human tissue such as a wound, recruits the body’s own cells and ultimately is converted into living tissue. The Kerecis fish-skin-based product helps wounds heal because of the structure of the fish skin and the presence of Omega3 polyunsaturated fatty acids. Because there is no risk of disease transmission, the fish skin needs only minimal processing. The result is that the fish skin is much more similar in structure to human skin than other skin substitutes are. Also, fish skin is rich in Omega3 fatty acids, which possess multiple health benefits.
Other Presentations
In addition to the workshop, Kerecis will be the subject of several oral and poster presentations at the conference.
Dr. Nadia Din of the Kadin Foot & Ankle Center in New Jersey will provide an overview of the Kerecis technology in her presentation “Skin for Skin Replacement: Omega3-Rich Fish Skin for Tissue Regeneration” on Saturday, September 8,from 1:30 to 1:42.
The following poster presentations will focus on the wound-healing and limb-salvage properties of the Kerecis treatment.
- Acellular Fish Skin Prevents Re-Infection and Amputation in Exposed Bone Lower Extremity Wounds with History of MRSA and Chronic Osteomyelitis, Limb Salvage, Winters
- Pinch Grafting in Wound Healing, Baldursson
- Cost Effectiveness of Wound Treatment with Fish Skin: Results of a Prognostic Study, Wound Healing, Jonasdottir, et al
- Omega3-rich Fish Skin for Healing of Chronic Wounds in the Private Office, Wound Healing, Altmanshofer
- Fish Skin Grafts-Omega3 Fatty Acids Are a Source for the Specialized Pro-Resolving Mediators that Drive Inflammation Resolution, Wound Healing, Jonasdottir, et al
- Double-Blind, Prospective, Randomized Clinical Trial on 170 Acute Wounds Shows Significantly Faster Healing Rate with Intact Fish Skin Compared to Human Amniotic Membrane, Wound Healing,
- Lantis (Oral Presentation 7:30 am, Saturday, September 8, Holiday Ballroom 4-6)
- Clinical Studies of the Kerecis Fish-skin-based Wound Treatment
More than 50 studies have been performed to gauge the effectiveness of the Kerecis product. A recent double-blind, prospective, randomized clinical study found that wounds treated with Kerecis Omega3 Wound healed significantly faster than wounds treated with EpiFix® from MiMedx®.
In another randomized, controlled human study on 162 wounds, those treated with Kerecis Omega3 acellular fish skin closed significantly faster than wounds treated with a porcine-tissue-based product. Up to twice as many wounds closed at the study time points.
And in an in vitro study, 150 percent more cells migrated into the acellular fish skin than into the amnion membrane, suggesting the reason for the faster healing rates.
The Kerecis Omega3 fish-skin product has been approved by the FDA and European regulatory authorities, and is patented in the United States and multiple other countries. The products are available in the U.S., Iceland, Germany, and several other European and Asian countries. The product is covered by Medicare in all 50 states and is widely covered through private insurers. In collaboration with the U.S. Department of Defense, Kerecis is adapting the product for use in battlefield conditions, where skin substitutes have traditionally not been used.
