RenovaCare has announced an equity financing of $15.5m from Kalen Capital, the family office of Harmel Rayat, majority shareholder and chairman of RenovaCare.
Image: RenovaCare board of directors chairman Harmel Rayat. Photo: courtesy of Business Wire.
This increases his family office’s total equity investment in RenovaCare since 2013 to over $20m.
“Our long-term investment in RenovaCare speaks to our conviction that patients worldwide urgently need and deserve our regenerative SkinGun™ therapy, which sprays a patient’s own stem cells for rapid self-healing,” stated Mr. Harmel S. Rayat.
“I’m more confident than ever in our mission to replace painful and costly skin grafting surgeries with an ultra-gentle healing mist of one’s own skin cells. I believe we are in the right place, at the right time and with the right technology.”
The investment round is earmarked to advance the Company’s regulatory approval process and clinical trial program. Mr. Rayat’s previous investment rounds enabled pre-clinical development, product engineering, and intellectual property filings.
RenovaCare president Thomas Bold said: “This $15.5 million equity round, which consists of $14,407,500 in cash and the conversion by Kalen Capital of the $1,095,000 of debt owed, provides us with ample funds. We can now pursue human clinical trials for the SkinGun, further strengthen our patent portfolio, bolster our management team and investigate the use of our cell spray technology for medical conditions beyond burns.”
Over 70 patients with various types of severe second-degree burns have been treated to-date on an experimental basis with the technology underlying the RenovaCare SkinGun™.
Sprayed with a gentle mist of their own skin cells, many patients left the hospital within days, avoiding painful skin graft surgeries and potentially weeks of hospitalization.
Patients who undergo skin grafting, today’s default treatment of care, can remain hospitalized for weeks and even months and often must endure multiple painful and costly surgeries and prolonged physical therapy.
These patients can suffer from the psychological effects of disfigurement caused by permanent scarring and often cope with the ongoing use of pain medications and protracted joint mobility issues.
RenovaCare has developed its novel SkinGun as a potential alternative to skin grafting and other options, such as in-vitro cultured epithelial grafts that require a specialized and expensive external laboratory.
Source: Company Press Release.