CUTISS comes in second at the TOP 100 Swiss Startup Award 2021

Last year’s winner is this year’s runner-up: The CUTISS team wins silver at the TOP 100 Swiss Startup Award 2021 for developing unique personalized skin technology to treat skin defects. CUTISS’s denovoSkin™ is a safe, effective, and accessible therapy for children and adults who suffer large-scale burns or scalds. The human skin grafts of the Zurich-based biotech startups are expected to result in a minimally scarring outcome after transplantation. Daniela Marino (CEO) and Fabienne Hartmann-Fritsch (CCO) founded the CUTISS in 2016.

It happened suddenly and quickly. The corona pandemic had paralyzed the work of CUTISS for months, and the treatment of the first patient in Italy, as part of the clinical studies, was a long time coming.

Then came a call from Naples in spring 2021. A newborn, 20 days old, with deep burns, was in urgent need of help. A case for CUTISS co-founder and CEO Daniela Marino and her team: The Zurich-based UZH spin-off and Venture Kick startup is able to increase the number of healthy skin cells of burn victims and produce individual skin—up to 100 cm2 from 1 cm2 within a month – CUTISS denovoSkin™.

However, currently, this can be done only within clinical studies, which is why the hospital in Naples had to be integrated into the program. It took three days to complete what normally takes three months. “And so the baby surprisingly became the first patient to be treated by CUTISS as part of the clinical studies in Italy,” said Marino. “That marked an important milestone for us.”

The UZH spin-off is on the right track. Founded in 2017, the company has won one award after another; the Series B financing round of CHF 25 million in 2020 was oversubscribed. Nevertheless, Marino said: “We are not yet successful.” CUTISS will be deemed successful only when its product has been approved for the market and patients with severe burns can be helped.

Accidents alone cause about 6,000 largescale burns in Europe every year. And according to the WHO, millions of people worldwide suffer from the consequences of burns, both physically and mentally. Burn victims with visible scars often experience feelings of shame, have difficulty in socializing, and are perceived to be less intelligent and personable. CUTISS aims to alleviate this suffering, and what makes the startup’s approach special is that the skin made from the patient’s cells grows with them, which promises children in particular a life without periodic operations.

There is still a bit of work to be done before CUTISS can produce for the market. Marino is convinced that “2021 will be the year of independence. Our own team, our own clean rooms in Schlieren for production, our own quality controls. And of course, completion of the clinical studies. The phase II tests are currently running in Switzerland, the Netherlands, and Italy. If all goes well, testing should be completed in 2022.”

If the CUTISS technology is approved for the market, the company will need fresh money again – about CHF 50 million to CHF 100 million, estimates Marino. She does not rule out an IPO. “Why not? That is one of many possibilities,” said the young entrepreneur.

So far, CUTISS has raised CHF 48 million from investors and subsidies. The main cost will be the establishment of series production for a fully automatic production machine—so far, there is only one prototype. In the future, CUTISS plans to use such machines to produce large-scale
skin grafts for hospitals. “There’s a lot to do,” said the boss, “but CUTISS is not a one-man show. We are a large, well-integrated team.”

It was always clear to Marino that she wanted to become a scientist; since, she said, she was a seven-year-old. And she has consistently followed that path: biotechnology degree in Milan, doctorate at ETH Zurich, research assistant at UZH, the EU-funded project on first-in-human clinical studies, and then Wyss Zurich and CUTISS. The fact that she is no longer simply a scientist but an entrepreneur has turned her everyday work upside down, but her goal is the same as before: “I want to help people.”

The CUTISS team (from left to right): Peter Harboe-Schmidt, Daniela Marino, Fabienne Hartmann-Fritsch, Vincent Ronfard, and Kathi Mujynya Ludunge


This article by Jost Dubacher was first published in the TOP 100 Swiss Startup Magazine 2021.