(Image from MTF Biologics)
MTF Biologics said it has launched a pioneering putty-like cartilage allograft designed to easily fill lesions in the knee, foot and ankle.
CartiMax viable cartilage allograft is an off-the-shelf product that demonstrates a stable shelf-life up to one year post-cryopreservation and offers the clinical benefits of viable cartilage matrix with live cells, according to Edison, N.J.-based MTF Biologics.
“CartiMax is the result of years of development and collaboration between MTF Biologics and surgeons and partners across the nation,” said MTF Biologics president & CEO Joe Yaccarino in a prepared statement. “Surgeons have not had many options to easily fill cartilage defects, and CartiMax will provide an ideal option that they’ve been looking for. Its texture and malleability allow it to fill a defect of varying shapes and sizes, and its one-year shelf life offers a lot of flexibility.”
CartiMax’s benefits include:
- Viable chondrocytes provided in an extracellular matrix that contains the necessary building blocks for cartilage repair, such as type II collagen, proteoglycans and endogenous growth factors.
- Enough material to fill up to a 5-square-centimeter lesion.
- Requires fewer preparation steps and conforms to defects of different shapes and sizes, eliminating the need for measuring, templates, trimming, gluing or suturing.
“CartiMax is truly a groundbreaking innovation,” said Dr. Deryk Jones, who gave a presentation on the product at the recent American Academy of Orthopedic Surgeons (AAOS) meeting in Las Vegas. “There’s nothing else like it available today. Its unique consistency and viable cartilage matrix allow the allograft to be directly molded into a lesion, saving time in the operating room, which is better for surgeons and patients, and eliminates the need for two-stage procedures, helping patients get back on their feet to return to normal activity more quickly.”
CartiMax has been featured in three pre-clinical studies: Cellular Characterization of CartiMax, CartiMax Retention in a Cadaver Knee Model, and Viability Characterization of CartiMax. MTF Biologics, also known as the Musculoskeletal Transplant Foundation, is a nonprofit consortium of organ procurement and tissue recovery organizations and academic medical institutions.
