CCC to move to Cambridge

By Graeme O'Neill
Tuesday, 31 August, 2004

Perth tissue-engineering biomedical company Clinical Cell Culture(ASX:CCE) will transplant most of its corporate activities from Perth to Cambridge after gaining approval from the British Medicines and Healthcare Products Regulatory Agency to market its Cellspray and Cellspray XP products in the UK.

CEO Troels Jordansen described the UK agency’s approval as a milestone for Clinical Cell Culture’s plans to commercialise its products in the lucrative UK-European market.

C3 has previously received approvals to market both products in Germany, Austria and the Netherlands, with Switzerland giving a tick to only to Cellspray XP.

Jordansen said the UK approval recognised the innovative nature of C3’s tissue-engineered products for treating wounds and other skin defects.

He said the UK, with its long history of skin grafting and developing new methods of skin culture, provided a strong potential market for C3. While the UK had well-established procedures for producing skin cultures, the market was currently served by a limited number of hospital laboratories that catered mainly for local demand.

CCC has developed novel ways of harvesting and culturing patients’ own skill cells, to enhance wound-healing rates and reduce scar formation – as well as restore pigmentation.

Its lead product, Cellspray, comprises a suspension of cultured skin cells that can be sprayed directly on to major burns and scars. Using CCC’s Recell device, surgeons can harvest a healthy skin cells from patients and apply them immediately to small wounds and burns.

Jordansen said moving company’s corporate office to Cambridge would bring CCC closer to its main markets and accelerate its regulatory approval, and allow it to fine-tune its launch activities with European distributors.

He said the company would remain listed on the ASX, and continue to have a majority of Australian-based directors. It would also continue to use Perth as the base for its R&D activities and managing clinical trials and commercial activities in the Asia-Pacific region.