EXPANDING its commercial operations in the USA is set to result in York based medical device company Tissue Regenix reporting a half year loss of £3.4 million.

Reporting its interim results for the six months ending July 31, the firm, which uses animal or human tissue to replace damaged or worn out parts of the human body, said it has developed a distribution network covering more than 80 per cent of the USA to promote its DermaPure product.

Antony Odell, chief executive of Tissue Regenix Group, based at York Science Park, said: "Tissue Regenix has achieved much in the past six months including starting the commercial roll-out of our dCELL DermaPure product in the USA; gaining approval from the MHRA for a UK clinical trial on dCELL meniscus products; progressing our diabetic foot ulcer trial in the US and increasing our global patent portfolio.

"These milestones maintain our planned progress and build successfully on our strategic focus on the wound care and orthopaedic markets, following the positive data from the UK clinical trial into dCELL dermis patches, and our decision to commercialise this product in the USA in 2013.

"The launch of DermaPure as our first product in the USA represents a significant step for the Group.

"For the orthopaedic business, gaining approval to start our human clinical trial on porcine dCELL meniscus provides a foundation for securing a CE mark in the UK. This represents a critical step in the process to enable full commercialisation of the dCELL meniscus product and allow it to be used by clinics and doctors to help UK and European patients."