Genzyme reveals positive knee cartilage results

Genzyme has announced positive results from a trial of its Carticel cell therapy for patients who have undergone knee cartilage operations.

A four-year programme conducted across 29 healthcare facilities found the treatment to be beneficial for participants with significant limitations in knee function following surgery.

Dr Brian Cole of Rush-Presbyterian-St Luke’s medical centre presented the data at the meeting of the American Orthopaedic Society for Sports Medicine in Calgary, Canada, this week.

"This was a well done, rigorous study which provided confirmation of our current treatment options for these types of patients," he explained.

"These patients had failed to receive a sustained benefit from another surgery, yet most of them who had a Carticel implant went on to a very good outcome."

Carticel is a patient-specific implant in which cells grown over a five-week period from the recipient’s own healthy tissue are used to replace damaged cartilage, Genzyme states.