ChondroCelect® is a late stage development phase product for articular cartilage repair in an otherwise healthy knee. Cartilage defects of the knee are very common, and the spontaneous healing capacity of cartilage is limited. Around 2 million articular cartilage defects of the knee are diagnosed worldwide each year. Only in Europe and the US, an estimated 130,000 patients could be helped to recover from articular cartilage injuries or chondropathies thanks to products as ChondroCelect®.

ChondroCelect® has been developed by TiGenix, a late stage biochemical company that focuses on innovative local treatments for damaged and osteoarthritic joints. According to TiGenix, it has been developed with two major objectives in mind: to create true a product capable of making stable hyaline cartilage in vivo leading to reconstitution of tissue function and full recovery of the damaged knee. Ultimately the goal is to stop the gliding scale of cartilage degeneration and to prevent the progression to osteoarthritis.

In February 2008, a scientific article in the American Journal of Sports Medicine prooved that ChondroCelect (the first expected Characterized Chondrocyte Implantation - CCI) results in better structural repair than microfracture surgery when treating symptomatic cartilage defects of the knee.<ref> The American Journal of Sports Medicine, volume 36 number 2, pp 235-246, February 2008</ref>

The product is expected to be launched in the EU by the end of 2008, once it has obtained regulatory approval. It would then be the first validated medical product in the world for cartilage regeneration.

Revolutionising Articular Cartilage Repair in the Knee

ChondroCelect® consists of Characterized Cultured Chondrocytes derived from the patient's own cartilage and is used for Autologous Chondrocyte Implantation (ACI), a surgical procedure to treat cartilage defects. Up to date, the widespread adoption of ACI has been limited by the lack of clinical validation. According to TiGenix, ChondroCelect®'s objective is to significantly improve the ACI procedure, moving it from cell culture service to a consistent, quality controlled, medicinal product.<ref>http://www.tigenix.com/home2.asp?map=pt</ref>

About ChondroCelect®

The treatment starts with an arthroscopic assessment of articular cartilage damage in the knee. In a second stage, healthy articular cartilage can be taken through arthroscopic surgery. The harvest biopsy is then sent to the Cell Expansion Facility of TiGenix where the cells are expanded (grown) in order to obtain sufficient cells of high quality, capable of forming stable hyaline cartilage after the implantation.

Four to five weeks after taking of the biopsy, a quality assessment is performed through a highly specific marker analysis. After the assesssment, the cells (ChondroCelect®) are sent back to the hospital for implantation. ChondroCelect® is then injected beneath a seal to fill the defect. After closing the seal with one or two more sutures, the knee is closed in layers and the rehabilitation process can start.


Image Source: TiGenix.com

External Links

Care Pathway.pdf ChondroCelect® Clinical Pathway

References

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