EU-funded research leads to cartilage repair implants
date: 16/03/2015
Project: Development and evaluation of mineralize...
acronym: SILKBONE
See also: CORDIS
Ten patients will receive the implant to repair damaged menisci, a type of cartilage found in the knee, from the second quarter of 2015. Europe-wide trials on up to 75 to 100 patients will then follow. The implant was developed by UK-based Orthox Ltd, co-founded by Silkbone coordinator Dr Nick Skaer, as an affiliate of Oxford Biomaterials. Orthox is also set to launch clinical trials in 2016 of the company’s articular cartilage implant for damaged knee joints. It also plans to develop implants for other joints as it enters a global market worth an estimated €860 million.
Since 2008, Orthox has grown from a staff of 4 to 10 and expects to hire another 5 people this year, says Skaer. It has received £7.75m (€10.1m) in funding from the UK’s Wellcome Trust, Innovate UK and National Health Service and is currently seeking private funding. It holds five patents for the technology, and has submitted an application for a sixth.
Orthox’s FibroFix™ Meniscus regenerative knee cartilage repair scaffold enters UK clinical trials in 2015
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