Treatment of articular cartilage lesions with Cartibeads ™
Characterisation of Cartibeads™
The first successul engineered true hyaline cartilage transplantable autografts with high-quality hyaline characteristics (high level of GAG and collagen II expression)
Engineered from patient’s own cells from a very small biopsy of cartilage :
- No risk of secondary cartilage lesions
- No risk after cell culture of permanently losing the initial function of cells.
- Our proprietary method allows the chondrocytes to regain their function
Manufactured in a standardized and highly reproducible method :
- quality and quantity of beads production stable in culture cell (cell passages up to 8 can be used)
- independent of donor age (tested with human cartilage up to 80 years old)
- provide for the first time the possibility to treat efficiently patients over age 55
- independent of the quality of native cartilage sample (working from collected cartilage from patients with severe osteoarthritis)
- Possibility of automation/robotization of the manufacture process: standardized media for all patients
Self-integrative properties (only in the natural environment) with a simple minimal surgical procedure :
- without the need of articulation immobilization or the support of animal external scaffold (as it produces its own matrix).
- beads just need to be placed on the defect area. They quickly fill it on their own.
- perfect integration to the native cartilage environment and to subchondral bone within 3 months with complete regeneration of the cartilage defect (preclinical data, article in submission).
- possibility to treat very large defects (>2.5 cm2).
- long term hyaline characteristic maintenance, without fibrocartilage development
Preclinical data demonstrated the safety and 100% efficacy in treating focal knee lesions at 6 months in minipig model
We are ready for first -in-man clinical studies study planned in 2021.