Boston’s XenoTherapeutics Prepares to Donate Xeno-Skin™ to Burn Victims of New Zealand White Island Volcano Tragedy

Business Wire

BOSTON--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- XenoTherapeutics, Inc. a clinical-stage biotechnology company focused on immunogenomic reprogramming of swine organs and tissues for human use, announced their readiness to supply victims of New Zealand’s White Island volcano tragedy with Xeno-Skin™, a live-cell product derived from genetically-engineered swine and cleared by the FDA for investigational use in human patients suffering severe and extensive burn wounds.

“Mass casualty events present the gravest scenarios for victims of second- and third-degree burns and quickly overwhelm tissue banks around the world. The latest human tragedy is in New Zealand, which is why we mobilized quickly to ready supplies of our Xeno-Skin product to medical personnel at Middlemore Hospital in Auckland,” said XenoTherapeutics CEO and Co-founder Paul Holzer. “We are in close communication with New Zealand’s leading burn surgeons and have packaged our stock of Xeno-Skin to be on-site within days of leaving our Boston headquarters if and when needed by the hospital in New Zealand.”

The New Zealand Ministry of Health and the U.S. Ambassador to New Zealand, U.S. Senator Scott Brown, have made the donation efforts of Xeno-Skin a high priority and were instrumental in connecting XenoTherapeutics with clinicians on the ground. We cannot thank them enough for their incredible assistance.

Approximately two dozen victims of the December 9^th White Island volcano disaster have suffered burns covering up to 95% of their bodies. To date, over 1,300 square feet of human cadaveric skin has been provided to New Zealand by the United States.

Each year, burn injuries claim the lives of 180,000 victims worldwide, and 40,000 Americans are hospitalized. Human cadaveric allografts are an effective mainstay - the clinical “gold standard” - in the treatment of severe burns. This tissue, however, is notoriously limited, with only 39,000 human donors in the United States each year. XenoTherapeutics’ supply of “humanized” porcine skin provides the same fundamental mechanism of action that achieves wound closure, preventing infections and fluid loss while decreasing pain and improving patient outcomes.

In 2019, Xeno-Skin demonstrated promising clinical results in the first human patient to ever receive a live-cell skin xenotransplant. Preclinical studies have also shown that skin xenotransplants and allografts were equivalent on patients, and follow-on autografts were otherwise indistinguishable with respect to graft adherence, evidence of immune-mediated rejection, and overall presentation.

About Xeno-Skin™

Xeno-Skin™ is a biologically active, split-thickness, xenotransplantation skin product consisting of dermal and epidermal tissue layers containing vital porcine cells derived from genetically-engineered, Designated Pathogen Free (DPF) source animals. Xeno-Skin™ provides temporary wound closure of severe and extensive burns, in the exact manner that, today, human cadaveric allograft is used, but with heightened safety and increased availability. Xeno-Skin™ does not require use of an immunosuppressive regimen. More information on Xeno-Skin™’s Phase I clinical trial is available at clinicaltrials.gov.

About XenoTherapeutics

XenoTherapeutics’ vision is to stave off preventable mortality and convert the hope of second chances into reality. XenoTherapeutics has pioneered the clinical advancement of xenotransplantation by initiating human trials for the first-in-human, live-cell xenotransplantation surgery with Xeno-Skin^TM. XenoTherapeutics and their collaborators support and vigorously adhere to all applicable laws, regulations, and policies governing the ethical treatment of animals, including the Animal Welfare Act and Public Health Service Policy of Humane Care and Use of Laboratory Animals. More information is available at www.xenotherapeutics.com.