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Devices Wound Care

 News Release - February 13, 2009

MEDIHONEY(TM) Dressings Shown to Help Improve Outcomes of Non-Healing Venous Leg Ulcers in Recent Case Series

Eleven of eleven wounds healed in 6 weeks or less

PRINCETON, N.J., Feb. 13 (Healthcare Sales & Marketing Network) -- Derma Sciences, Inc. (OTC Bulletin Board: DSCI), a provider of advanced wound care products, announced today that its MEDIHONEY Dressings were the focus of a case series on eleven non-healing venous leg ulcers. These wounds had previously failed to heal while being managed with such therapeutic modalities as multi-layered compression, silver antimicrobial dressings, antibiotic therapy, and hyperbaric oxygen. Six of the wounds completely healed within 4 weeks, and all eleven wounds healed within 6 weeks. The typical duration for wound healing studies having complete closure as the endpoint is 12 weeks. The case series, "Topical Leptospermum Honey (MEDIHONEY) in Recalcitrant Venous Leg Wounds: A Preliminary Case Series" was published in the February edition of Advances in Skin & Wound Care, a peer-reviewed and Medline-indexed journal.

Speaking about the case series, Derma Sciences' CEO Ed Quilty stated, "The body of evidence supporting the use of MEDIHONEY - particularly in non-healing venous leg ulcers - continues to grow. This case series validates the randomized controlled study published several months ago which showed that the addition of MEDIHONEY under compression helped to improve healing in these very difficult to heal leg ulcers. Leg ulcers are very burdensome for patients and their families, are painful, and recur often. With the evidence that has been accumulated for this patient population, MEDIHONEY is gaining traction on formularies as the lead dressing when wounds do not heal within 3-4 weeks of treatment with basic standard wound dressings. As was the case with the recent patient profile coming out of North Shore Long Island Jewish Hospital, these patients' quality of life can be improved tremendously if their wounds healed more quickly."

According to the authors (Tanisha Smith, DPM and Kennedy Legel, DPM of South Miami Hospital, and Jason R. Hanft, DPM, Director of Medical Education, Baptist Health South Florida), "As renewed interest in the use of sterile, medical-grade honey to achieve wound closure increases, justified by increased scientific and clinical data, the healing potential of Medihoney may serve as a pivotal clinical decision to accelerate the closure of recalcitrant wounds of the lower extremity."

The data from this case series has also been submitted and accepted for presentation at two of the major wound conferences in 2009: The Diabetic Foot Global Conference (DFCon) in Los Angeles, March 19-21, and The Wound Healing Society Annual Conference (WHS) in Dallas, April 26-29.

About venous leg ulcers

Venous leg ulcers are difficult to heal, and impair the quality of life of patients due to pain, reduction in daily living capabilities, and issues with odor (1)
Roughly 1% of the population will have a venous leg ulcer at some point in their lifetime (2)
The costs to treat venous leg ulcers in the US exceeds $1 billion (3)

(1) Charles H. Venous leg ulcer pain and its characteristics. Journal of Tissue Viability. 2002;12(4):154-158.

(2) Margolis D, Bilker W, Santanna J, Baumgarten M. Venous leg ulcer: incidence and prevalence in the elderly. J Am Acad Dermatol. 2002;46(3):381-386.

(3) de Araujo et al., Ann. Intern. Med. 2003;138(4):326-34.

About Derma Sciences

Derma Sciences is a global manufacturer and marketer of advanced wound-care products. Its key product, MEDIHONEY(TM), is sold throughout the world by Derma Sciences and Comvita New Zealand -- the licensor of the patented honey-based technology -- and is the leading brand of honey-based dressings for the management of wounds and burns. The product has been shown to be effective in a variety of wounds and burns, and was the focus of a large-scale randomized controlled trial on leg ulcers. Derma has two products in development: the BIOGUARD(TM) line of barrier gauze dressings, and DSC127, the company's novel angiotensin analog for accelerated wound healing and scar reduction. The barrier technology was licensed from Quick-Med in Q1 of 2007 and is pending its initial FDA marketing clearance. DSC127 was licensed from the University of Southern California in Q4 of 2007. For more information about Derma Sciences, Inc., visit its home page on the Internet at http://www.dermasciences.com.


Source: Derma Sciences

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