Injectable hydrogel repairs cartilage
Leo Smit & Ron Coenen, photo: Wendy Boon
In the EU and the US, several million patients are diagnosed with traumatic focal defects (TFD) in the knee cartilage every year. In addition to the knee, TFDs in hip and small joints in the US and EU still represent approximately 1 million patients per year. This damage is often the result of sports injuries or even simply due to tripping or falling. In the event of a fall, the articular cartilage can be damaged as a result of ‘blunt trauma’. This is, for example, due to a kick of one leg or a hard hitting hockey ball, but also by making a wrong movement during sports, dancing or just walking.
80% of diagnosed patients recover poorly and subsequently develop so-called post-traumatic osteoarthritis. This gives years of increasing disability and pain, and on top of that leads to significant health care costs and social economic losses, says Leo Smit, CEO of Hy2Care. The WHO has designated osteoarthritis as a priority disease as it is the most common cause of disability in older adults. It is expected that by 2050 15% of all people over the age of 60 will have osteoarthritis.
To prevent this post-traumatic osteoarthritis, Hy2Care has developed an injectable hydrogel whose effect has already led to promising results in pre-clinical trials. The gel fills in the cartilage defect, preventing scar tissue from forming and allowing the body to make natural cartilage itself.
The technology is based on locally forming a porous hydrogel. Two natural polymers – dextran and hyaluronic acid – are mixed and injected into the defect. Once the mixture is applied to the cartilage defect, the components enzymatically bond within approx. 1 minute together. At the same time, the gel also adheres to the matrix proteins of the surrounding cartilage. In this way the body is enabled to heal itself.
The natural regeneration to high-quality Hyaline cartilage forms the basis for a long-term recovery, with the intended advantage of delaying or even preventing the development of osteoarthritis. With permanent recovery, this not only prevents additional secondary treatments, but also prevents recurrence of pain, disability and increasing healthcare costs.
Hy2Care is now aiming to start the first clinical studies in humans as soon as possible, so that this technology can actually be applied in healthcare.