Cell Bandage – using stem cells to repair knee injuries

“You have a meniscal tear,” are words to fear. Over a million people a year in the US and Europe suffer this painful knee injury. The standard treatment, removing the damaged cartilage, often leads to osteoarthritis and even knee replacement.

An innovative cell therapy could change all that – thanks to grant funding and support from Innovate UK which has helped it move out of the lab and into clinical trials.

The Cell Bandage uses a patient’s own stem cells as an internal ‘bandage’ to encourage cell growth and allow the tear to repair itself. It’s been developed by Azellon – a spin out from the University of Bristol’s Department of Molecular and Cellular Medicine.

The initial idea came from a series of projects on cartilage repair led by Professor Anthony Hollander, founder of Azellon and now head of the Institute of Integrative Biology at the University of Liverpool.

“We knew we could grow cartilage in the lab, the problem was how to get it into the patient. The answer was a structural ‘bio-scaffold’ that could grow stem cells harvested from a patient’s own bone marrow,” said Anthony.

He realised its potential benefits for orthopaedics and set up Azellon in 2007 to develop the cell Bandage concept. He spent two years trying to raise funding from private investors.

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“We hit a brick wall. Investors were interested, but reluctant to commit funds at such an early stage. They wanted proof that the idea could be commercialised,” he said.

Getting to clinical trials

In 2008 Innovate UK awarded grant funding of £555,000 towards a two-year £1 million collaborative project to develop the Cell Bandage to Azellon and its partners – the University of Bristol and University College London.

The project took the Cell Bandage from prototype to clinical evaluation in a small number of patients. However, anything to do with cell therapies is complicated. “It’s been a long road. Not only did we have to commercialise a lab-based process, but we also had to navigate a complex regulatory process to get the product licensed for clinical trial,” said Anthony.

“Innovate UK were there when we ran into technical problems. Our monitoring officer was extremely helpful,” Anthony commented.

In 2013 the Cell Bandage began its first small clinical trial. There’s still some way to go before it will be repairing damaged knees, but results are positive so far.

“If it works as well as we hope, it will promote better short-term recovery for meniscal tears and also prevent or delay osteoarthritis in the damaged knee,” said Anthony.

The technology could be used to treat a wide range of other injuries.

“The Cell Bandage is a just delivery mechanism – in principle it could be used to heal any soft tissues that need to be integrated,” he added.

Supporting cell therapy

Azellon has also been working with the Cell Therapy Catapult – set up in 2012 by Innovate UK to help cell therapy organisations translate early stage research into commercially viable and investable therapies. Anthony believes the Catapult, and Innovate UK, play a pivotal role in his sector.

“The credibility the Cell Bandage project got as a result of Innovate UK backing played a critical role in unlocking funds from private investors. Regenerative medicine won’t work without support from organisations like Innovate UK and the Catapult”, he said.

Despite the challenges along the way, Anthony remains enthusiastic about the future for the Cell Bandage and for cell therapy.

“We’re showing it can be done and we’re creating British expertise in developing cell therapies,” said Anthony.

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