Current autologous cell therapies involve two surgeries and two to four weeks of cell culturing in between. The first surgery serves to harvest cartilage cells. The second surgery is the implantation procedure. It is not difficult to see why this process comes at a high cost. Two surgeries with operation room personnel, clean rooms for cell culturing, cell culture personnel, transport logistics, etc. It is precisely for this reason that reimbursement agencies have been less than forthcoming in accommodating these costs as a matter of course.
Comparison of current cell based therapies with instructive intra-operative therapy (INSTRUCT).
CellCoTec ’s proprietary cell technology, on the other hand, overcomes the need for ex-vivo cell culture, and thus the complex chain of logistics and interventions, through Cellular Cartilage Induction. Simply said, the primary cartilage cells are combined with other (autologous) uncommitted cells such as bone marrow cells and signal them to become cartilage cells. Thus, CellCoTec’s cell technology allows for making more cartilage with less cartilage cells. To date, cartilage induction has been demonstrated even for very low cartilage cell contents.
Accordingly, INSTRUCT can be applied in one surgery. In the operation room cartilage and bone marrow are harvested, processed and implanted in combination with a scaffold, all within surgery time. Thus, INSTRUCT enables a single-surgery autologous cell-based therapy.
Principle of Cellular Cartilage Induction.