Zimmer and ISTO announce phase III study of DeNovo ET Graft

Zimmer and ISTO Technologies have teamed up to conduct a phase III clinical study that will evaluate the engineered cartilage implant DeNovo ET Engineered Tissue Graft.

Developed as part of a collaborative relationship between the two companies, DeNovo ET Graft is designed to repair defects to tissue cartilage in the knee.

The phase III study, involving 225 patients at up to 25 US healthcare centres, is designed to demonstrate DeNovo ET Graft's superiority at treating articular cartilage defects, compared to the current standard of care.

Cheryl R Blanchard, senior vice-president and chief scientific officer at Zimmer, said: "This phase III study will generate meaningful data on the potential of this novel biological solution for treatment of cartilage lesions earlier in the continuum of care."

The news comes just a matter of days after Zimmer revealed its net sales for the fourth quarter of 2011 stood at $1.17 billion (739 million pounds), up by 2.9 percent on the corresponding period of 2010.