Regentis Biomaterials announced today the start of its Phase III pivotal clinical trial of GelrinC for the treatment of focal knee cartilage defects with successful surgery on three patients in the U.S. and Denmark. These procedures are part of a Food and Drug Adminstration (FDA) approved Investigational Device Exemption (IDE) clinical study to compare GelrinC to microfracture, the current standard of care treatment. The clinical study will be used to support a Pre-market Approval Application (PMA) which will allow Regentis to market GelrinC in the U.S.
The US procedures were performed by Dr. Jason Scopp at the Peninsula Orthopaedic Clinic in Salisbury, Maryland and by Dr. Bryan Huber at Mansfield Orthopaedics at Copley Hospital in Morrisville, Vermont while the Denmark procedure was completed by Dr. Martin Lind in Aarhus University Hospital in Aarhus.
The FDA trial will appraise the safety and efficacy of GelrinC compared to the raw level data of a historical microfracture control arm. This study design overcomes the limitation of randomized control studies in this field, and is expected to generate faster patient enrollment and significantly reduce the time for product approval.
With an estimated market opportunity in excess of $1 billion, cartilage repair is the largest unmet need in orthopedic sports medicine today. Articular cartilage is the smooth, white tissue covering the ends of bones where they come together to form joints. Focal defects of the cartilage layer are extremely painful for patients and usually occur due to sudden trauma. Surgical intervention is often required because of the limited capacity for cartilage to repair itself. The current standard of care treatment is microfracture but this only provides short term relief and often requires surgical re-intervention.
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