Cytori Gets Green Light for Thermal Burn Clinical Trial

Cytori Therapeutics (NASDAQ:CYTX) received approval from the US Food and Drug Administration for a burn clinical trial using the Cytori Cell Therapy.
As quoted in the press release:

This trial, named the RELIEF trial, is a continuation of Cytori’s ongoing research and development efforts under its contract with the Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority (BARDA), a division of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.
The RELIEF trial will assess safety and feasibility of intravenous delivery of Cytori Cell Therapy™ as an adjunct to usual care in patients with thermal burn injuries covering between 20% and 50% of their body surface area. The trial is approved to enroll up to 30 patients in up to 10 U.S. sites. Initiation of RELIEF is dependent upon execution of a contract option by BARDA to provide the necessary funds.
“This announcement is yet another milestone achieved as BARDA and Cytori continue to move this technology forward through the development process, from preclinical to clinical implementation,” said Dr. Marc Hedrick, President and Chief Executive Officer of Cytori. “Approval of RELIEF is a major step towards the ultimate goal of making this technology available to our citizens as a national countermeasure against burn injuries potentially including those complicated by radiation exposure.”
The current healthcare system is ill-prepared for large numbers of patients requiring simultaneous treatment for thermal burns, particularly those complicated by radiation exposure. Current standard of care consists of dressings, skin grafts and skin substitutes. Despite these treatments, patients with severe burns commonly suffer from prolonged pain, aggressive scarring, skin contracture and reduced range of motion. Cellular therapeutics such as those offered by Cytori may have the potential not only to improve the quality and rate of wound healing and reduce scarring but also to be deployable in a cost effective manner, even in mass casualty situations.
According to the American Burn Association, there were approximately 450,000 burn injuries in 2013 that required medical treatment in the United States, with approximately 40,000 requiring hospitalization. According to a report from the Government Accountability Office, as many as 10,000 patients could require thermal burn care in a mass casualty event. The limited number of specialist surgeons and burn centers in the U.S. creates a public health need for a burn wound therapy that can be quickly and broadly applied by non-specialist medical personnel following such an event.
The RELIEF Trial is designed as a prospective, open-label, parallel group, usual care controlled, multi-center randomized (2:1, active: usual care alone) safety and feasibility study targeting thermal burns. Subjects will have at least one deep partial or full thickness burn wound that is to be autografted with a meshed split thickness skin graft (STSG). Subjects randomized to Cytori Cell Therapy will undergo small volume fat harvest (100 to 150 mL) during scheduled burn surgery followed by intravenous delivery of Cytori Cell Therapy. Subjects randomized to usual care will not undergo a fat harvesting procedure.
About Cytori Therapeutics, Inc.
Cytori is a therapeutics company developing regenerative and oncologic therapies from its proprietary cell therapy and nanoparticle platforms for a variety of medical conditions. Data from preclinical studies and clinical trials suggest that Cytori Cell Therapy™ acts principally by improving blood flow, modulating the immune system, and facilitating wound repair. As a result, Cytori Cell Therapy™ may provide benefits across multiple disease states and can be made available to the physician and patient at the point-of-care through Cytori’s proprietary technologies and products. Cytori Nanomedicine™ is developing encapsulated therapies for regenerative medicine and oncologic indications. For more information, visit www.cytori.com.

Click here to read the full press release.