ISTO Technologies Awarded Fast-Track SBIR Grant from the NIH for New Research in Cartilage Repair
ST. LOUIS, July 28, 2015 /PRNewswire/ — ISTO Technologies, Inc., a privately-held orthobiologic regenerative medicine company, announced that ISTO was recently awarded a Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) grant from the National Institutes of Health to fund pre-clinical research for the application of their novel biosynthetic scaffold, InQu®, to repair chondral defects.
The grant supports a two-year study led by Anthony J. Ward PhD, Principal Scientist at ISTO Technologies, and the total award is up to $1.2 million. Of that total, $224,500 has been awarded for the 2015 budget period. Dr. Ward stated, “Receipt of a Fast-Track grant from the NIH is acknowledgment that this research is groundbreaking, and we’re excited to demonstrate that InQu is truly a platform technology ̶ with potential to support regeneration of multiple tissue types, including cartilage and bone.”
The current standard treatment for repair of chondral defects in the knee is microfracture, which has a high incidence of failure in active individuals after 18 months. Building on previous pre-clinical studies and significant expertise in cartilage regeneration, the ISTO Research and Development team hopes to establish more robust repair of chondral defects using InQu as an adjunct to microfracture.
The NIH-supported research will enable ISTO to leverage its existing synthetic biomaterial platform for new applications and position InQu for indication expansions in the US and WW. The data will pave the way for clinical studies to support commercial approval of InQu for cartilage repair, and further establish ISTO as the leader in cartilage regeneration. This research complements ISTO’s ongoing clinical-stage development of RevaFlex™, a cell-based regenerative cartilage technology, and enables ISTO to offer two potential treatment solutions for chondral defects in the knee.
About ISTO Technologies, Inc.
ISTO is a privately-held orthobiologics company dedicated to improving patient quality of life through the development of differentiated products for spinal therapies and sports medicine. The Company’s proprietary cell-based platform harnesses the regenerative capacity of juvenile cartilage cells to create products designed to repair damaged cartilage tissue and restore function. In addition to cell-based products in clinical development, ISTO has a commercial portfolio of orthobiologic products led by InQu®, a bone graft extender and substitute for spinal fusion applications that has been used in over 40,000 surgeries at U.S. hospitals to date. For additional information on ISTO, please visit our website at www.istotech.com
