Injectable Implants to treat Osteoarthritis
Amsterdam UMC and SupraPolix, a biomedical materials company from Eindhoven, invented an injectable, elastic and degradable implant to prevent and treat osteoarthritis of articular joints. Combining Amsterdam UMC’s world class expertise in the field of orthopaedics with SupraPolix innovative biomedical materials portfolio of supramolecular polymers, this new treatment for osteoarthritis will be further developed including scaling-up of the polymer manufacturing, testing of the implant performance, its surgical handling and its compliance and containment inside joints.
According to the World Health Organization (WHO), 9.6% of men and 18.0% of women 60 years of age and older suffer from symptomatic osteoarthritis. 80% of them is limited in daily functioning and 25% is severely disabled. The incidence of OA is rising – along with an ageing and increasingly obese population worldwide, in developed and developing countries alike. The younger population is suffering from osteoarthritis in higher frequency as well, related to higher intensity of sports on the one hand and reduced musculoskeletal health on the other hand. Treatment of osteoarthritis is difficult and unsatisfying. Patients suffer years with pain, until they are old and immobile enough to undergo surgery (i.e.: receive a prosthesis). This loss of mobility also increases the risk of other chronic diseases, like cardiovascular disease, dementia and cancer. Overall, a treatment that has the potential to strongly postpone or cancel surgery, will severely reduce health care costs that impact all societies.
Our injectable implant is essentially a cushion that separates the painful joint surfaces and dampens the peak loads of daily life, yet can undergo gentle compression to stimulate regeneration. We aim to do this by injecting a temporary shock-absorbing implant that is foreseen to postpone and often even cancel surgery. With this project, this injectable cushioning implant will be further developed towards clinical trials.
