U.S. Panel Backs Bioengineered Skin

Diabetics and sufferers of vein disease may soon be able to try the first implants of living, bioengineered skin to treat the serious open sores that strike their legs and feet. Advisors to the Food and Drug Administration, meeting in Gaithersburg, recommended approval of a copy of the top layer of human skin called DermaGraft, which doctors could keep in the freezer until they needed to treat a diabetic suffering the foot ulcers that sometimes lead to amputations. The panel also backed a more complex “human skin equivalent” called Apligraf, a living copy of all layers of human skin intended to treat venous leg ulcers.