Avita Medical Receives Added BARDA Funds for Burn Treatment Product Development; Adam Kelliher Comments

Avita Medical has received $7.96 million in additional funds from the Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority to continue efforts to launch a regenerative medicine product and obtain U.S. market approval.

The company will use the new funds to help U.S. Burn Centers familiarize themselves with health economic models of ReCell’s usage and potential application in the treatment of burns, Avita said Monday.

Avita will also use the funds to hire new employees for its Northridge, California-based office and the new personnel will work on regulatory, supply chain, quality systems, clinical support and reimbursement tasks.

Avita CEO Adam Kelliher said the company hopes BARDA’s health economics support will help Avita demonstrate how the company’s regenerative medicine approaches “both help burn victims and save money as these are the key drivers to support our reimbursement efforts.”

The new funds complement an initial contract BARDA awarded to Avita in September 2015 for procurement and support for late-stage development of ReCell.