PolarityTE, offering scant details, acquired an unnamed contract research organization as part of a plan to expand its research and development programs, alongside the appointment of a new chief veterinary officer.
The biotech, focused in regenerative biomaterials and tissue products, described its purchase as a “fully functional, operational and profitable” CRO, with its own preclinical biomedical research facility in compliance with good laboratory practices and USDA standards. The CRO will be integrated under a new arm of the company named PolarityRD.
“We look forward to updating the public shortly on PolarityRD and the momentum of our advancing research systems,” Denver Lough, PolarityTE’s CEO, said in a statement. The company did not respond to requests for comment.
PolarityTE also announced it hired Caroline Garrett to serve as its chief veterinary officer earlier this year, describing her as “instrumental” to developing the preclinical research program following its acquisition.
Garrett previously served as an assistant professor in the Department of Molecular and Comparative Pathobiology and director of large animal clinical medicine and surgery at Johns Hopkins University.
RELATED: PolarityTE rolls out skin-regeneration platform
Garrett’s move to PolarityTE follows Stephen Milner’s, who became the company’s chief clinical officer after serving as director of Johns Hopkins Burn Centers.
“Our revolutionary approach to a new form of regenerative healing offers hope to both burn and wound patients, as well as medical providers who have not seen a significant advance in skin regeneration since the 1980s," Milner said last summer, when the Salt Lake City-based company provided preclinical data.
PolarityTE previously unveiled its skin regeneration platform, registered with the FDA last October, that is designed to provide full-thickness tissue derived from a patient’s own cells for the treatment of burns. The company said it planned to introduce the product in a limited release to select medical institutions.
PolarityTE is also pursuing regenerative products in bone, cartilage, muscle, adipose tissue, blood vessel formation and peripheral nerves.