AIM share code: SKIN

5 September 2019

Integumen PLC

("Integumen" or "Company")

Labskin breakthrough clones 16 human skin swabs into 54 living microbiome test subjects

Enables multiple skincare products or topical medical treatments to be tested on the same subject

Integumen will present results of a new breakthrough Labskin cloning study at the Microbiome AI conference in San Diego, California, USA, later today.

Labskin scientists cloned 16 swabs of skin from the cheeks of healthy volunteers into 54 Labskin test subjects to allow sequencing of microbial DNA for the identification and quantification of the bacterial microbiome isolated and pooled together.  The live bacteria, virus and fungi (microbiota) was sustained on all 54 test subjects for up to 14 days in the Labskin laboratories in York, UK.

The LabskinAI virtual model aggregated and analysed the bacterial microbiome data, extracted from each sample, and after eliminating false or anomalous readings, provided test results within a range of ±10% of the human volunteers' control skin from which it was initially cloned.

The results of this study validate Labskin's ability to test multiple clinical trial and skincare products in parallel, on the cloned human skin microbiome, that is as close to the original microbiome of a human test subject, without the need for human volunteers after initial cloning takes place. This allows multiple skincare products or topical drug samples to be tested on the same subject, at the same time, thus substantially reducing development time, clinical error and clinical trial supervision costs.

Gerard Brandon, CEO of Integumen plc, comments:

"By de-risking each stage of the traditional topical drug and skincare product development process, the Labskin cloning service makes it economic for industry to research and explore new treatments by allowing agile development and a cost-effective "fast fail" protocols on disposable human-skin test subjects cloned from healthy human volunteers.

"This breakthrough study clearly supports our commercial strategy and demonstrates Labskin's ability to deliver healthy and damaged skin testing 'as services' using a proven 'software as a service' business model already adopted by, and proven, in other industries." 

Contacts

About Integumen:

Integumen is a vertically integrated product and services company for skin related diseases, treatments and therapies with three business units: 

·      Labskin AI's technology platform incorporates artificial intelligence within clinical research for medical device, pharmaceuticals, cosmeceuticals and related life science test services.  Labskin allows skincare, healthcare, pharmaceutical manufacturers and cosmetic companies to test their products on human-like skin in a real-world environment with full access to multiple state-of-the-art partner technologies.

·      Wound pHase is developing skin and wound care products using its proprietary wound dressing technology. Working in collaboration with CBD providers creating a CBD infused diabetic wound care product range.

·      Stoer-for-men skin products e-commerce division offers a range of skincare products derived from 5 natural super-ingredient plant extracts specifically for men to reduce the signs of ageing and is also used as a control for client testing within Labskin laboratories. 

The Company combines data analytics with access to therapeutic operational expertise and offers solutions to our clients, from regulatory approvals, right through to marketing fully tested ingredients that have been certified on our Laboratory grown living human tissue.

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