Tissue Therapies hopes new model can eliminate need for animal tests

If beauty is skin deep, the latest wrinkle from Brisbane biotech Tissue Therapies (ASX:TIS) should hold deep allure for cosmetics companies -- the company's researchers have developed a live-skin model with the same structure and properties as human skin.

Tissue Therapies believes the new human skin model, which also regenerates after burns, physical wounds and chemical injury, takes a step closer to eliminating the use of animals to test wound-care products and cosmetics.

MD Dr Stephen Mercer said the new skin model, developed under contract by Queensland University of Technology researchers, said the skin-equivalent model is similar to native human skin. It consists of live human skin cells, that develop from pluripotent stem-cell precursors; the cells spontaneously differentiate to form dermal and epidermal layers, lacking only in sweat glands and hair follicles.

Mercer said he was "amazed" when he first saw the cellular structure of the skin under a microscope.

"Our objective at this stage was to have a histologically and morphologically accurate multi-layer skin," he said. "We've achieved that, but our science team has gone beyond that and produced preliminary data indicating it responds to wounding or insult in the same manner as normal skin.

"This is the first time a differentiated skin analogue has been produced without using animal cells. It will replace all animal derivatives in our own R&D programs, and we believe if will provide us with three revenue sources, depending on further practical and commercial development."

He said preliminary results have also confirmed that Tissue Therapies' proprietary VitroGro wound-healing technology accelerates the growth and 'healing' of the skin model.

"If we're actually going to sell live-skin models, it begs the question about the source of the cells, and compliance with legal restrictions on trade in human tissues," he said. "But, depending on the source of the cells, and informed consent from donors, our legal advice is that it can be lawfully manufactured and sold in Australia."

Mercer said that despite strong resistance from the $44 billion European Union cosmetics industry, new laws introduced in 2003 prevented manufacturers testing new products on the skin of living animals. The ban extended to products tested on animals in nations lacking such laws.

The animal-testing ban was expected to force cosmetics manufacturers to switch to alternative testing systems such as Tissue Therapies' human skin-equivalent model.

Mercer said the advance opens up three new areas of commercial opportunity for Tissue Therapies:

• Contract product testing of wound-care products, cosmetics and their constituents, and 'cosmeceuticals'.
• Testing of potentially toxins capable of being absorbed through the skin, and chemical stimulants.
• Sale of the live-skin model to third party companies for their own testing programs.