Indian Drugs Controller approves first indigenously developed animal-derived tissue engineering scaffold for healing skin wounds with minimum scarring

Source: The post is based on the article “Indian Drugs Controller approves first indigenously developed animal-derived tissue engineering scaffold for healing skin wounds with minimum scarring” published in PIB on 13th June 2023

What is the News?

Drug Controller General of India (DCGI) has approved the first indigenously developed tissue engineering scaffold from mammalian organs called Cholederm.

What is Cholederm?

Cholederm is a wound healing material developed by Sree Chitra Tirunal Institute for Medical Sciences and Technology (SCTIMST), a Thiruvananthapuram-based autonomous institution of the Department of Science and Technology (DST).

It has been derived from the extracellular matrix of de-cellularized gall bladder of pig and tissue engineered as membrane forms of scaffold.

Cholederm healed different types of skin wounds including burn and diabetic wounds in rats, rabbits or dogs faster than similar products currently available in the market, with minimal scarring. 

Significance: The concept of using animal-derived materials as advanced wound care products is not new. 

– However, indigenous technology was so far not available for fabricating quality products that satisfy the requirements of the Drugs Controller General.Therefore, such products were imported making them expensive.