New York-based RenovaCare has designed a device to treat patients with second-degree burns using their own stem cells.

Nancy Crotti

RenovaCare is seeking FDA clearance for this SkinGun to spray burn victims with their own stem cells.

Patients with severe second-degree burns were able to leave the hospital within days of treatment with their own stem cells, sprayed by a New York company's "skin gun," according to a study.

The patients had been burned by chemicals, electricity, gasoline, water, and tar, with the burns affecting the first and second layers of skin. Their hospital stays averaged 7.6 days.

Burns can be devastating, with complicated, painful treatments. More than 1.25 million burns are reported daily in the United States, and treatment can cost more than $25 million a year, according to the study.

Burn patients have been treated with sprays of their own stem cells since 2008. The main differences here are the stem cells themselves and the application. The cells in this study were uncultured and therefore available much more quickly than cultured stem cells, a traditional treatment. The other difference is the application of those cells by the SkinGun device, for which manufacturer RenovaCare Inc. is seeking FDA clearance.

The cells were put in a liquid suspension and sprayed in a continuous mist about 20 cm from the wounds, according to the report on patients' outcomes, published in the journal Burns. The wounds behaved as "bioreactors" for healing, according to the study. Click here to see before-and-after photos.

"In the case of one patient with severe electrical burns to over one-third of his body, his wounds were sprayed with 23 million stem cells isolated from a tiny 2" x 2" sample of his own skin," RenovaCare CEO Thomas Bold said in a statement. "Within five days of treatment, his chest and arms were already healed. Four days later, the patient was discharged from the hospital."

RenovaCare is developing its CellMist system as an alternative for patients suffering from burns, chronic and acute wounds, and scars. The company estimated a $45 billion market for such treatments.

"These published analyses are especially encouraging to us because patients were successfully treated with the technology no matter what the source of the burn," Bold said.

Nancy Crotti is a contributor for Qmed.

[Image credit: RenovaCare Inc.]