ACell’s Skin and Tissue Regeneration Technology

We’ve talked before about the many types of regenerative medicines under development by a multitude of companies. Investors are pouring money into a burgeoning field of life sciences called longevity of which regenerative medicine is a part of. From printing organs on demand to harvesting them from pigs, there are many promising regenerative medicine technologies being developed. Today, we want to talk about regenerating the biggest organ on the human body which covers over 22 sq ft. of surface area – your skin.

Physicians have been working on methods to regenerate skin now for a while. For example, it’s common to use extracellular matrix (ECM) scaffolds for skin regeneration. These are described as “structural and functional proteins that act as a tissue-specific template for constructive tissue remodeling.” You might think of this as a layer that’s placed over open wounds that helps skin regenerate more quickly. While many companies produce ECM products, only one company has developed a superior ECM scaffold made from pig bladders – the urinary bladder matrix (UBM). And they just decided to raise $86 million through an initial public offering (IPO) of their stock.