THUNDER BAY – HEALTH – RegenMed in Thunder Bay is proudly celebrating its launch of DermGEN™, Canada’s first Acellular DermalMatrix. Each year roughly 2,300 Ontarians require amputation of their leg below the knee due to a diabetic foot ulcer (DFU). RegenMed is projecting that DermGEN™ will have a significant impact on DFU healing, resulting in a reduction of amputations performed due to diabetic foot ulcers. In addition to treating DFUs,
DermGEN™ will also be used to treat acute and chronic wounds in various other clinical applications.
Acellular Dermal Matrix is decellularized human skin that provides a natural scaffold for wound healing, allowing the patient’s own cells to replace the Acellular Dermal Matrix and promote natural skin growth and rebuilding. During early studies, DermGEN™ has proven enormously effective in healing diabetic foot ulcers that would not heal utilizing the current standard of care in Canada. Dr. Idevania Costa RN, NSWOC (S) PhD, a leading researcher in the management of chronic wounds, states, “I know first-hand how devastating it is to patients, families and healthcare providers to see prolonged healing process ending up in infection and limb amputation. People with diabetic foot ulcers constantly face the fear of losing a limb, because it is a complex wound that takes time to heal. DermGEN™ is an innovative Canadian product that has the potential to accelerate healing. I am very excited about this Canadian technology coming to the field of wound care because this represents an advancement in wound care management”.
Background
- RegenMed, a not for profit multi-tissue bank from Thunder Bay, serves as a proud partner in Ontario’s tissue Weare Ontario’s only processor of musculoskeletal tissues and the only facility in Canada processing Acellular Dermal Matrix.
- This new venture to manufacture and distribute Acellular Dermal Matrix is happening in partnership with DeCell Technologies Inc. from Halifax, NS. DeCell founders and biomedical engineers, Paul Gratzer and Sean Margueratt, are the first in the world to automate the process to decellularize skin. Their IP protected process has proven to increase the clinical effectiveness in wound healing through skin regeneration while lowering manufacturing costs at the same time.
- DermGEN™ will have a heightened impact in Northwestern Ontario because we have a significantly higher rate of diabetes, chronic non-healing foot ulcers, and associated
- RegenMed and DeCell have formed a partnership with three First Nations in Northwestern Ontario and will be working closely with them on clinical studies at a new advanced wound treatment center in Emo,
