Soft Tissue Regeneration, Inc., an early-stage orthopedic device company, announced today that it was issued U.S. Patent 8,486,143, which relates to the L-C Ligament®, a device for soft tissue regeneration of the anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) of the knee.

Invented by Cato T. Laurencin, M.D., Ph.D., the L-C Ligament® is a bioresorbable scaffold that is designed to regenerate knee ligament tissue after ACL reconstruction surgery. The patented technology uses a clinically-proven degradable polymer called poly(L) lactide acid (PLLA) to address known risks and morbidity associated with allograft and autograft tissues. The cutting-edge technology requires no harvesting of the patient’s tendon, which eliminates the risks associated with the harvest site.

Last month, Soft Tissue Regeneration announced the enrollment of its first patient in a clinical trial of the company’s L-C Ligament®, which utilizes the technology addressed in this patent. The patient was implanted at Isala Klinieken on June 18, 2013, in Zwolle, The Netherlands, by a team led by Dr. Kees van Egmond. The implant surgery was performed successfully and the patient is recovering well and has started physical therapy.

STR has several patents issued and pending related to its breakthrough bioengineering platform used to regrow ligaments and tendons.

The L-C Ligament® encourages the regeneration of the patient’s own ligament tissue. To date, results from large-scale animal testing at one year and longer have demonstrated that the L-C Ligament® can successfully regenerate a native ligament intra-articularly.

The L-C Ligament® is an investigational device and is not available for use or sale in the European Union or the United States. It is only available as part of the clinical trial.