Integra "Artificial Skin" Approved In UK

The UK Medicines Control Agency has approved an artificial skin product developed by Integra Life-Sciences of the USA. Integra Artificial Skin is a permanent dermal replacement for use in severe burns patients. The product has now been cleared in eight countries, including the USA.

Integra is a biomaterial-based product which stimulates the body to regenerate tissue that has been lost to disease. Aside from the dermal product, the company is also developing products to regenerate other tissues, including articular cartilage and peripheral nerves. Integra is planning to hold two training sessions in the UK, in London and Manchester, to ensure that burns physicians know how to use the new product. A series of similar sessions has been running across the USA.

Smith & Nephew And ATS To Offer Skin Replacement Meantime, Smith & Nephew has formed a joint venture with Advanced Tissue Sciences to develop a skin replacement patch, called Dermagraft, for a range of wound-healing purposes. The product is based on real skin cells and is in the final stages of clinical trials in the USA. The product could be on the market by 1997. This is the second joint venture between the firms; the first concerned a cartilage replacement product.