Kerecis Omega3 is intact fish skin rich in naturally occurring Omega3 polyunsaturated fatty acids. When grafted onto damaged human tissue such as a burn or a diabetic wound, the material recruits the body’s own cells and is ultimately converted into living tissue.

Compared to mammalian-based skin substitutes, Kerecis Omega3 offers improved economics and clinical performance, as well as reduced disease transfer risk and no cultural constraints on usage.

Other tissue-transplant products are based on tissues of human and porcine origin. These are not ideal substitutes because heavy processing is needed to eliminate the risk of disease transmission. This harsh, anti-viral treatment removes most of the material’s natural components, making it dissimilar to human skin.

We are a fast-growing company rooted in science and environmental sustainability. Today more than 200 employees are led by an experienced management team, board of directors and scientific advisory board. We have regional headquarters in the United States, Switzerland and Iceland.

The company’s mission is to become a world leader in regenerating damaged human tissues by sustainably harnessing nature’s own remedies. Its vision is to extend human life by supporting the body’s own ability to protect and regenerate tissues.

Operations & Structure

The Kerecis operational headquarters are located in Arlington, Virginia, near Washington, D.C. Research & Development is based in Reykjavik, Iceland, with European and Asian sales run from the company’s office in Zurich, Switzerland. The Kerecis products are manufactured in its own manufacturing facility in Isafjordur, Iceland.

Kerecis sells its products through a mixture of direct sales in the United States and employs agents and distributors worldwide. The products are sold to hospitals, healthcare facilities, physicians and consumers.

The company is privately held by Icelandic, American, British and French shareholders. About one third of the shareholders are the original founders of the business. Private investors and family funds hold the remaining shares. The five largest shareholders are:

Emerson Collective LLC
Omega ehf (affiliated with Novator Partners LLP)
CuraeLab SARL
BBL 34 ehf
FnF ehf

The most recent shareholder, Laurene Powell Jobs, invested in the company through Emerson Collective LLC in 2019. President Olafur Ragnar Grimsson, the former President of Iceland represents Emerson Collective on the board of Kerecis.

Key technical advantages

No cultural or religious barriers to clinician/patient acceptance
Easier to use, with larger, thicker sheets (no need for multi-layer grafts)
Non allergenic and bio-compatible
No known risk of disease transfer
Enhanced cell proliferation and vascularization
Improved infection control
Adjustable rate of absorption into the surrounding tissue

Fish skin has been shown to be more similar in structure to human skin than anti-viral–processed skin substitutes. Because there is no risk of disease transmission, fish skin is only minimally processed, preserving its structure and components. In a double-blind, comparative, randomized controlled clinical trial (N=162), fish skin favorably compared with mammalian skin substitutes.

Application include reconstructing the skin in burn, chronic wounds, and oral wounds, hernia repair, breast reconstruction, and dura mater reconstruction.

Other tissue-transplant products are based on tissues of human and porcine origin. Mammalian tissue carries the risk of disease transmission to humans that is nonexistent from the Atlantic cod to humans. The FDA has strict requirements on tissues from farm animals including viral inactivation methods involving treatment with detergents that remove lipids from the tissues and denature the native structure leaving behind only the most insoluble collagens. Products from human tissues like skin and dehydrated human amnion/chorion membrane call for extensive use of antibiotics to reduce bioburden. The acellular fish skin graft is not subject to this harsh treatment, leaving a more naturally intact product with its associated benefits.

The fish are caught in the pristine waters of North Atlantic Ocean off the township of Isafjordur, on the northwest coast of Iceland. Each and every batch of raw materials is tracked to ensure product quality. The fish skin is processed using a proprietary method that preserves its structure and lipid composition.

Kerecis Omega3 Wound has been approved by the FDA and European regulatory authorities for wound healing. The product is undergoing registration at multiple regulatory authorities around the world.

Kerecis has demonstrated its proficiency in creating lipid-containg tissue matrices from fish skin, and it has been shown that the material is safe, non-toxic and structurally sound. The company is focused on developing medical device applications with a predicated high return on investment and a low-to-medium cost of development. Kerecis focuses exclusively on tissue regeneration and maintenance, utilizing its core Omega3 fish-skin technology.

Intellectual Property

Kerecis has been awarded multiple patents protecting the core technology in the U.S. and other countries, and several more applications are pending. Kerecis is committed to building a substantial patent portfolio protecting the company´s intellectual property so that revenue from manufacturing and licensing activities can be maximized over the invention’s lifetime.

Technical Basis

The Kerecis Omega3 fish skin contains lipids and proteins that, in a concerted manner, help the body regenerate damaged tissue.

The lipids in Kerecis Omega3 include sterols, fat-soluble vitamins, and phospholipids as well as polyunsaturated fatty acids (Omega3). The health benefits of polyunsaturated fatty acids have long been recognized and their positive impact on health is on sound scientific footing [1]. These favorable effects are in large part mediated by the Omega3 (n-3) fatty acids eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA) and docosahexaenoic acid (DHA), which are found in high concentration in fish oil. One reason why wounds fail to heal is the shortage of lipids that are formed in the Golgi apparatus of the keratinocytes [2].

erecis™ Omega3 fish skin

Kerecis™ Omega3 Applied to the Wound

The acellular fish skin graft is derived from decellularized Icelandic codfish skin. Its protein composition closely resembles that of human skin and the porous microstructure provides a scaffold for efficient ingrowth of dermal cells and capillaries. In addition, the FDA-cleared graft is uniquely rich in the polyunsaturated Omega3 fatty acids EPA and DHA, which are known for their anti-inflammatory properties. Significant biological activity has been demonstrated [3, 4]. Kerecis Omega3 fish skin does not elicit an immune response since the major antigenic components present within cell membranes are removed during processing.

Other extra-cellular transplant products available today come from mammalian sources. Fish skin possesses many of the same features as mammalian skin, among them an appropriate surface chemistry and microstructures that facilitate cellular attachment, competent mechanical strength and biodegradation rate without undesirable by-products [6, 7, 8].

WCW: Applying a Kerecis Graft to a Traumatic Wound - Video