Comment to: Spray-applied cell therapy with human allogeneic fibroblasts and keratinocytes for the treatment of chronic venous leg ulcers: a phase 2, multicentre, double-blind, randomized, placebo-controlled trial, Kirsner RS et al. Lancet 2012;380:977-8.

Standard treatment with infection control, primary dressings, and the application of high-strength compression heals between 30% and 75% of venous leg ulcers. Skin autografts, sheets of cultured allogeneic adult keratinocytes, allogeneic neonatal fibroblasts cultured within a bovine collagen matrix have been successively tried with uncertain success. HP802-247 is a novel spray-applied cell therapy containing growth-arrested allogenic neonatal keratinocytes and fibroblasts. In vitro studies have allowed optimization of the cellular formulation to enhance release of essential growth factors including vascular endothelial growth factor, basic fibroblast growth factor, keratinocyte growth factor, transforming growth factor α, and, when the cells are combined, granulocyte-macrophage colony stimulating factor. Here is reported a phase 2, multicenter, randomized, placebo controlled trial at outpatient facilities in the USA (34 centers) and Canada (one center), between June 15, 2009, and May 5, 2011...