CHOOSING UTAH.

• Author: Estabrooke, Ivy V.

PolarityTE has been in Utah since opening its doors in the University of Utah's Research Park, it built a new Salt Lake City headquarters in 2018. Stryker has been manufacturing stroke technologies in the Salt Lake City area for nearly a decade and recently expanded. Both chose the state for its business-friendly climate, spirit of innovation and strong work ethic. It just doesn't get better than that.

POLARITYTE THE PARADIGM SHIFT IN REGENERATIVE MEDICINE SHIFTS TO UTAH

Built into human DNA is an amazing ability for the body to heal itself. But what happens when our own healing process takes too long, or when there's a need to replace tissue that is too badly damaged or missing entirely? That's where PolarityTE has found the paradigm shift in disruptive biotechnology that could change the practice of medicine.

PolarityTE is focused on transforming the lives of patients by discovering, designing, and developing a range of regenerative tissue products that mirror the natural healing processes in the human body. The Salt Lake City startup's technology harnesses a patient's own cells and redeploys them to allow the body to regenerate itself on the site of the defect. The company's launch product, SkinTE, does this by taking a small sample of healthy skin from the patient and turning it into a paste that is reapplied to acute, traumatic, and chronic wounds, including burns and diabetic foot ulcers. By allowing the cells to grow directly on the injured area, those cells can communicate with surrounding tissue, which help it to grow to full-thickness, fully-functioning skin with sweat glands and hair.

SkinTE's approach is an alternative to the traditional skin graft treatment, which often has complications that leaves patients in the hospital for months and creates painful scars that limit mobility. The product has also been successful in recent pilot clinical studies to treat patients with diabetic foot ulcers.

The approach PolarityTE is taking a deliberate attempt to advance how medicine is practiced. The company was born from a desire by doctors to help patients who have lost hope. PolarityTE was founded by physicians who left their residencies at The Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine to start the company.

Edward Swanson, MD, PolarityTE's co-founder and chief translational medicine officer, said of his decision to walk away from his clinical physician career path, "It became clear that as a physician, PolarityTE was a place I could...