CAMBRIDGE, Mass. & DANVILLE, Pa.–(BUSINESS WIRE)–InVivo Therapeutics
Holdings Corp., a developer of groundbreaking technologies for the treatment of spinal cord injuries (SCI), and Geisinger Health System today announced a research
collaboration to conduct a preclinical study using InVivos injectable
biocompatible hydrogel for the treatment of chronic pain caused by peripheral
nerve compression. InVivo expects to submit data from the study to the U.S. Food
and Drug Administration (FDA) in 2012 representing the Companys first
technology to treat degenerative neurologic conditions outside of the spinal
cord.
Back and leg pain along with neck and arm pain arm amongst
the top five most common reasons for physician visit worldwide. Patients with
peripheral nerve compression often experience chronic pain, tingling and
numbness in the extremities, and approximately 3,200,000 chronic pain
injections are performed annually in the U.S. to treat these conditions.
InVivo will leverage its SCI platform technology to provide time-released
anti-inflammatory therapies to this estimated $15B annual market.
“Chronic peripheral nerve compression can have a devastating
impact on an individuals quality of life and even impair ones ability to
function on a day-to-day basis,” said Dr. Jonathan Slotkin, a renowned expert
in spinal cord injury treatment and director of spinal surgery and spinal cord
injury research at Geisinger Health Systems Neurosciences Institute. “InVivos
innovative technology platform has already demonstrated success in the
treatment of traumatic spinal cord injury in several study models, and we look
forward to examining how this latest technology performs in this new
application.”
The study will be conducted jointly in the Tapinos Lab of
Molecular Neuroscience at the Weis
Center for Research and
the Slotkin Lab of Spinal Cord Injury Research at the Geisinger Clinics
Neurosciences Institute. The endpoint of the study will be the effectiveness of
using injectable hydrogels for the controlled release of drugs to alleviate
chronic pain resulting from compression-induced peripheral nerve damage. The
study will compare the resulting molecular and behavioral impact among rodents
receiving the injectable scaffold with drug therapy, the injectable scaffold
alone, injectable drug therapy alone and a control group receiving no
injection.
“The Geisinger Neurosciences Institute is one of the
premiere facilities in the country for the study of innovative diagnostic and
treatment approaches to neurologic disorders,” said Dr. Ed Wirth, InVivos
chief science officer and one of the worlds foremost experts in spinal cord
injury treatment and regenerative medicine. “We believe there is tremendous
potential for our technology to treat other neurological conditions beyond
spinal cord injury, and we are eager to move forward in bringing these
therapies one step closer to broad market availability.”
InVivo is currently awaiting FDA approval to commence the
first human clinical study using its proprietary polymer scaffolding device to
provide structural support to a damaged spinal cord to help prevent paralysis
and improve recovery and prognosis for patients with acute spinal cord injury.
The human study is expected to begin in 2012.
About Geisinger Health System
Geisinger is an integrated health services organization widely recognized for
its innovative use of the electronic health record, and the development and
implementation of innovative care models including ProvenHealth Navigator, an advanced
medical home model, and ProvenCare program. The system serves more than 2.6
million residents throughout 44 counties in central and northeastern Pennsylvania. For more
information, visit geisinger.org. Follow the latest Geisinger news and more at
twitter.com/geisingerhealth and facebook.com/geisingerhealth.
About InVivo Therapeutics
InVivo Therapeutics Holdings Corp. is focused on utilizing polymers as a
platform technology to develop treatments to improve function in individuals
paralyzed as a result of traumatic spinal cord injury. The company was founded
in 2005 on the basis of proprietary technology co-invented by Robert Langer,
ScD. Professor at Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and Joseph P. Vacanti,
M.D., who is affiliated with Massachusetts
General Hospital.
In 2011, the company earned the prestigious David S. Apple Award from the American
Spinal Injury Association for its outstanding contribution to spinal cord
injury medicine. The publicly traded company is headquartered in Cambridge, Mass.
For more details, visit www.invivotherapeutics.com.
Posted by Sean Fenske, Editor-in-Chief, MDT
