Cod Skin Regenerates Human Skin
One Fish Is Worth $4,000 As a Medical Asset
Nicholas P. Sullivan
A cod-skin bandage high in Omega3 — from an Icelandic company near the Arctic Circle — is very similar to human skin. It heals wounds and burns without infections, and is used in hospitals and by the Department of Defense.
If you scale and skin a codfish, and gently process the skin, you can apply it to human skin to help heal burns, wounds, and even brain and spinal dura (a tough, protective membrane). High in Omega3 polyunsaturated fatty acids, the fish skin reduces inflammation, reduces pain, recruits the body’s own cells, prevents infections and is ultimately converted into living tissue. In double-blind, randomized trials, cod-skin grafts have healed wounds faster than synthetic products made from human or porcine tissue and with no risk of disease transmission.
Kerecis, the company that has received more than 40 patents for the use of cod fish skin for medical use, was founded in Ísafjörður, in the Westfjords of Iceland, right below the Arctic Circle. It now has major offices in Reykjavik, Iceland’s capital, and Washington, D.C. On average, Kerecis can produce eight “skin units” from one cod. (Atlantic cod stocks in Iceland are quite stable, compared to those in the US and Canada.) Each unit sells for roughly $500, yielding a value of $4,000 per fish. This takes the ideas of “100-perent fish utilization” and of turning “waste into profit” to a whole new level. The skin is effectively a biotech wonder worth exponentially more than the fish itself.
“Kerecis has turned organic matter previously discarded as worthless into a product that helps thousands of people worldwide,” says Hallgrimur Jonasson, general director of Icelandic Center for Research (Rannis). Dr. Lee Rogers, a Los Angeles podiatrist known for preventing amputations and who has used the product on diabetic wounds, says that “the skin of the fish, once scales are removed, is strikingly similar to human skin on a microscopic level.”
Kerecis Omega3 Fish Skin, derived from MSC-certified cod, is used in different ways to treat wounds, burns, and surgeries. The fish skin — which can be stored at room temperature for up to three years and then hydrated for 30 to 60 seconds before use — is designed to be trimmed for placement directly onto the wound or burn, after which it is moistened with saline and covered with a sterile dressing. The Omega3 fish-skin for tissue-regeneration technology is acellular — no fish cells to compete with human cells.
This same transplantation technology is also used for hernia repair, breast reconstruction, and dura repair. Kerecis Omega3 Dura is similar to natural dura and can be fully absorbed and integrated into the patient’s own tissue. The Omega3 Dura is stretchable and easy to suture, helping to contain the brain, spine, and spinal fluid and to facilitate unsurpassed strong and lasting repair of the dura.
Kerecis products are used by the Veterans Administration, the legendary Cleveland Clinic, and East Liverpool City Hospital in Steubenville, Ohio, among many others. “It’s a 40 percent to 50 percent quicker healing process,” says Rick Perez, director of business development at East Liverpool City Hospital, which is primarily using Kerecis to help heal diabetic wounds.
Medicare accepts Kerecis treatments in all 50 states. Kerecis has been approved by most European regulators. In the US, Kerecis is adapting battlefield products for the Department of Defense, given the large number of soldiers who have suffered serious, life-threatening burn wounds. And Kerecis has been approved by the FDA to treat second-degree burns; a trial to treat third-degree burns is being sponsored by the Defense Department.
Founder and CEO, Fertram Sigurjonsson, a chemist who describes himself as a serial entrepreneur, established the company in 2009, but commercial operations didn’t begin until 2013. His interest in the treatment of wounds and prevention of amputations dates to his work with prosthetic manufacturer Össur in Denmark around the turn of the century.
Kerecis is privately held by Icelandic, American, British, and French shareholders, half of whom are founders of the business. Kerecis has completed a seed round and A, B and C rounds, the last for $16 million; total investment is estimated at $24 million. The company founders and related parties retain about one-third ownership interest. The proceeds of the last round will be principally used to fund the company’s sales and marketing activities, especially in the U.S. and Switzerland. In 2019, the company acquired the Swiss life-science company Phytoceuticals, whose goal is to develop first-in-class fatty-acid-based solutions for major indications in dermatology.
For the last 100 years or so, the main medicinal product derived from cod has been the strong-tasting cod liver oil that delivers vitamins A and D, and Omega3 fatty acids with their anti-inflammatory and cholesterol benefits. You can buy a bottle at Walgreen’s, CVS, or Amazon for around $30. It’s a nice, old-fashioned, home remedy and health aid. But Kerecis Omega3 fish-skin (see video) for burn, wound, and dura tissue-regeneration is a 21st century biotech product.
Nicholas Sullivan is a Senior Fellow at the Fletcher School’s (Tufts) Center for Emerging Market Enterprises and a writer for Oliver Wyman, a global consulting firm. He is the author of two books: You Can Hear Me Now: How Microloans and Cell Phones Are Connecting the World’s Poor to the Global Economy; and Money, Real Quick: Kenya’s Mobile-Money Innovation. He was previously publisher of Innovations: Technology/Governance/Globalization (MIT Press) and Executive Producer of Inc.com, a sister company to Inc. magazine. Sullivan has also been a Visiting Scholar at MIT’s Legatum Center for Development & Entrepreneurship. He is now working on a Fishing 4.0 project, focusing on innovations in hunting, harvesting, and farming fish, for which he received a 2019 Bellagio Fellowship from the Rockefeller Foundation.
