Tissue Regenix (LON:TRX) has received another boost for its skin graft product Dermapure in the US with reimbursement approval from two more Medicare administrators.
Noridian Healthcare Solutions and Palmetto GBA’s green light means DermaPure is now available to 20.7mln patients on Medicare across 30 states.
Medicare, the US government’s health care insurance programme for the over 65s, is key to the company’s strategy for Dermapure. Approval by a Medicare administrator mean doctors and hospitals receive reimbursement for using the product.
Dermapure was approved by Novitas Solutions and CGS Administrators earlier this year, increasing its access across 14 states but Tissue has now doubled that reach with this latest deal.
Antony Odell, chief executive, said he was thrilled with how quickly Dermapure was achieving Medicare approval.
“In the space of just four months the product has gained approval for coverage in over half of the American states via what is a highly rigorous and intensive selection process.”
House broker Jefferies added that US reimbursement for DermaPure in more regions marks the next significant step forward in its commercial development.
Noridian and Palmetto administer for 11.8m beneficiaries across the states of Alaska, Arizona, California, Hawaii, Montana, Nevada, North Dakota, Oregon, South Dakota, Utah, Washington and Wyoming. Palmetto covers North Carolina, South Carolina, Virginia and West Virginia.
The company continues negotiations with the remaining jurisdictions and Jefferies expects the majority of the remaining 5-6mln beneficiaries to be covered by the end of the year.
In line with structural changes in US healthcare, the Medicare contractors are becoming increasingly conscious of cost/efficiency and Jefferies expects sales for DermaPure to amount to £9.3mln by end the financial year 2017.
The regenerative med-tech’s speciality is a washing technology that cleans out previous cells and allows human (or animal) tissue be re-used with minimal chance of rejection.
Dermapure, for acute wounds such a ulcers, is its first product launch in the US.