Stratatech raises $3 million

April 8, 2010 by MedCity News

Skin substitute developer Stratatech Corp. raises $3 million in an offering of debt, options, warrants and other securities.

By Brandon Glenn

Stratatech Corp. raised $3 million to continue developing a genetically engineered human skin substitute, according to a regulatory filing.

The investment comes in the form of debt, options, warrants or other securities, according to the Securities & Exchange Commission filing. Vice president and treasurer Robert Barnard declined to comment on the round.

The company’s lead product is called StrataGraft skin tissue and is made of human cells that act as a temporary wound cover, fighting bacterial infections and promoting healing by a patient’s own cells. The skin substitute is intended for use with burn victims or patients suffering from chronic, non-healing wounds, such as diabetic foot ulcers.

The skin substitute is used to cover a patient’s skin so it can heal for a number of weeks before the next phase of an operation. Typically, cadaver skin is used for that purpose, but that can bring infection risks associated with contamination.

In January, Stratatech said it had reached an agreement with an unidentified Fortune 200 company to “create a product that prevents skin wounds by enhancing the resiliency of compromised or susceptible skin.” Stratatech said at the time that the StrataGraft product was proceeding through clinical trials that would help it along the path to Food & Drug Administration approval.

The company was founded in 2000 by Lynn Allen-Hoffman, a University of Wisconsin pathology professor. Stratatech raised about $11.5 million from angel investors through February 2009, according to an article in the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel. Stratatech also grabbed $14.5 million in federal research grants from agencies such as the National Institutes of Health and the U.S. Defense Dept.

Stratatech’s revenues fall between $1 million and $5 million, according to the regulatory filing.