FDA Clears Second Carrion-Fly Species for Maggot Wound Therapy
The FDA has approved a second carrion-feeding fly species, Lucilia cuprina, for use in maggot debridement therapy, expanding options for wound care.
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration this week cleared a second carrion-eating fly species for use in maggot wound therapy, according to an announcement from Cuprina Holdings, a Singapore-based company that markets the new therapeutic larvae as MediFly Maggots.
With this clearance, Cuprina becomes the only company with FDA approval to sell two species of fly larvae for medical use. The newly approved species is Lucilia cuprina, also known as the Australian sheep blowfly. It is a close relative of Lucilia sericata, the common green bottle fly, which was the only other species previously cleared by the FDA for maggot debridement therapy (MDT).
Cuprina CEO David Quek stated that the company now holds FDA clearance for both species used in MDT, a position no other company holds. He noted that this anchors their wound-care platform in one of the world's most demanding regulatory markets.
The company does not claim significant therapeutic differences between the two maggot treatments. Instead, they are seen as fitting different markets: L. sericata is more familiar in Western wound care, while L. cuprina may have greater recognition in Australia, Africa, Asia, and parts of the Americas.
Dr. Ronald Sherman, a long-time advocate of maggot therapy and Cuprina's Medical and Scientific Director, welcomed the clearance as a step forward for MDT. He emphasized that Lucilia cuprina has a meaningful international track record and that bringing it under U.S. FDA clearance gives clinicians and patients more flexibility in therapy delivery.
