Biologics News

WAIKOLOA, Hawaii — At Orthopedics Today Hawaii, John M. Tokish, MD, discussed the role platelet-rich plasma (PRP) plays in the treatment of various knee injuries. He said PRP will augment the need for biologics.

Patients with varus knee osteoarthritis who received a mesenchymal stem cell injection when undergoing high tibial osteotomy experienced improved clinical outcomes compared with patients who did not receive mesenchymal stem cell injections, according to published results.

Histogenics Corporation announced in a press release that the phase 3 clinical trial of its restorative cell therapy NeoCart did not meet its primary endpoint of statistically significant improvement in pain and function 1 year after treatment compared with a microfracture in a dual-threshold responder analysis of patients with knee cartilage damage.

Cartilage defects in the knee are frequently encountered during arthroscopic procedures; however, there are limited treatment options that can be used to regenerate durable repair tissue. Due to their simplicity, marrow stimulation techniques for cartilage repair, such as microfracture, have often been considered for preferential use, despite the numerous clinical outcome studies that have failed to demonstrate long-term benefit, particularly in larger cartilage lesions.

Baxter International Inc. announced FDA clearance for its Actifuse Flow bone graft substitute, which is intended for use in orthopedic surgical procedures.

Shown is the one-step, dry arthroscopic surgical technique to implant the hyaluronic acid-based scaffold Hyalofast scaffold (Anika Therapeutics) in the right knee of a 56-year-old man with a right femoral condyle cartilage lesion. Also seen is the 1-year second-look arthroscopy performed as follow-up in the same patient.

PHILADELPHIA — At the Musculoskeletal Infection Society Annual Open Scientific Meeting, Andy O. Miller, MD, infectious disease specialist at Hospital for Special Surgery, said patients with rheumatoid arthritis who were on biologics had higher rates of Staphylococcus aureus skin carriage.

In early May, the FDA filed two federal complaints seeking to permanently ban two stem cell clinics from marketing stem cell products without regulatory approval, accusing these clinics of disregarding “the law, and more importantly, patient safety.”

The International Cartilage Repair Society global, web-based patient registry provides an international data pool for knee articular cartilage injury, history and treatment. One year after its launch, the registry continues to grow and evolve, with new additions to the registry now being discussed.

Lipogems announced it received FDA clearance for its Micro-fragmented Adipose Tissue Transplant system which uses the body’s own fat tissue.