Acute and chronic ulcers of the human skin, mostly represented by diabetic foot ulcers (DFU), pressure ulcers (PU, also termed bed sores), and leg ulcers (LU) cause significantly decreased quality of life in affected patients and high societal cost. Due to the limited efficacy of the currently available preventive and therapeutic procedures, a large proportion of DFU, PU and LU become chronic. Approximately 40% of Diabetic Foot Ulcers are healed within 4 months of treatment
with conventional therapies (advanced medications with engineered bandages, negative pressure, etc.), leaving more than one half of patients without an effective therapeutic option, and with increased risk to require limb amputation, an expensive procedure significantly associated with decreased patient’s survival. Similarly, PUs cannot be completely and timely healed in a large proportion of patients with bed sores treated with standard procedures or with the more expensive advanced medications. Numerous reports from the medical literature show that a gel obtained from the patient’s own platelets (autologous ‘platelet gel’ or ‘platelet rich plasma’, a blood component rich of tissue regenerative factors), when used in combination with procedures of comprehensive wound management, is more effective than conventional treatments alone in promoting faster healing of Diabetic Foot Ulcers, Pressure Ulcers and Leg Ulcers. Platelet rich plasma, commonly referred to as "PRP", is human blood that is spun down and separated producing a concentration of platelets above normal values. Platelets are the clotting cells of our blood, but they also have great potential in enhancing healing of skin, muscles, tendons and ligaments. Studies show that growth factors released by platelets recruit reparative cells, augment tissue repair, and accelerate soft tissue healing. PRP is applied in the form of a gel and can be obtained either from donors blood donations, "allogeneic", or from patient own blood, "autologous". The latter type is increasingly more common because driven by patient's need, while the first type is limited by the availability of donations. Episkey's mission is to produce exhaustive evidence that cord and adult blood derived medical products are significantly more valuable and therapeutically effective than other products, due to their distinctive biochemical compositions. The company patented a system of medical bags that will be sold to public and private blood banks in order to easily fractionate cord blood donations and make the components usable for further processing.
