InVivo Therapeutics Holdings Corp., developer of technologies to treat spinal cord injuries (SCI), and integrated health services organization Geisinger Health System today announced their research collaboration to conduct a preclinical study using InVivo’s injectable biocompatible hydrogel to treat chronic pain caused by peripheral nerve compression.
InVivo said it plans to submit data from the study to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) in 2012, marking the company’s first technology to treat degenerative neurologic conditions outside of the spinal cord.
The company noted that approximately 3.2 million chronic pain injections are performed in the U.S. each year to treat patients with back, leg, neck and arm pain. This statistic reflects an estimated $15 billion annual market for time-released anti-inflammatory therapies.
“Chronic peripheral nerve compression can have a devastating impact on an individual’s quality of life and even impair one’s ability to function on a day-to-day basis,” Dr. Jonathan Slotkin, a renowned expert in spinal cord injury treatment and director of spinal surgery and spinal cord injury research at Geisinger Health System’s Neurosciences Institute, stated in the press release. “InVivo’s innovative technology platform has already demonstrated success in the treatment of traumatic spinal cord injury in several study models, and we look forward to examining how this latest technology performs in this new application.”
Geisinger and InVivo will conduct their research in the Tapinos Lab of Molecular Neuroscience at the Weis Center for Research and the Slotkin Lab of Spinal Cord Injury Research at the Geisinger Clinic’s Neurosciences Institute. The endpoint of the study will be to determine the efficacy of injectable hydrogels for the controlled release of drugs to alleviate chronic pain resulting from compression-induced peripheral nerve damage.
Dr. Ed Wirth, InVivo’s chief science officer and one of the world’s foremost experts in spinal cord injury treatment and regenerative medicine, noted the prestige of the Geisinger research facility and the anticipated outcome of the upcoming research.
“The Geisinger Neurosciences Institute is one of the premiere facilities in the country for the study of innovative diagnostic and treatment approaches to neurologic disorders,” Dr. Wirth stated. “We believe there is tremendous potential for our technology to treat other neurological conditions beyond spinal cord injury, and we are eager to move forward in bringing these therapies one step closer to broad market availability.”
For more information visit www.invivotherapeutics.com or www.geisinger.org
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