InVivo Therapeutics Announces Enrollment of Second Subject in Pilot Spinal Cord Injury Trial

InVivo Therapeutics Holdings Corp. (NVIV) today announced that a second subject has been enrolled in the pilot study of its Neuro-Spinal Scaffold for the treatment of complete traumatic spinal cord injury (SCI) at the Carolinas Medical Center, part of the Carolinas HealthCare System in Charlotte, NC. The objective of the pilot study is to evaluate the safety and feasibility of the Neuro-Spinal Scaffold as well as to gather preliminary evidence of effectiveness.

Dr. Domagoj Coric, Chief of Neurosurgery at Carolinas Medical Center, together with Dr. William Bockenek, Chief Medical Officer of Carolinas Rehabilitation, are Co-Principal Investigators at this site. Dr. Coric and his partner Dr. John Ziewacz, both of the Carolina Neurosurgery and Spine Associates, performed the second-ever Neuro-Spinal Scaffold implant into an acute spinal cord injury patient. Dr. Coric commented, “This subject sustained a severe, multi-trauma injury that required my team to wait two days for the subject to stabilize medically before proceeding with the concurrent spinal stabilization and implantation surgery. The implantation procedure was a success, and I look forward to monitoring the subject’s progress.”

Mark Perrin, InVivo’s CEO, said, “Although each accident that results in a spinal cord injury is tragic, we’re grateful to have enrolled the second subject so quickly after re-opening enrollment, and are looking forward to monitoring the subject’s progress. As previously stated, the FDA will require only 30 days of safety data for this subject, rather than the original requirement of 90 days, before reopening enrollment. Barring any significant safety issues, we anticipate reopening the study for concurrent enrollment of subjects three through five in about two months.”

This is the company’s first clinical study of its investigational degradable polymer Neuro-Spinal Scaffold. The Investigational Device Exemption (IDE) pilot study has been approved by the FDA and is intended to capture preliminary safety and effectiveness data of the Neuro-Spinal Scaffold in five subjects with acute thoracic spinal cord injury. Following the pilot trial, InVivo expects to conduct a pivotal study to obtain FDA approval to commence commercialization under a Humanitarian Device Exemption (HDE).

For more information, please visit the company’s ClinicalTrials.gov registration site: http://clinicaltrials.gov/ct2/show/study/NCT02138110

About the Neuro-Spinal Scaffold

The biodegradable Neuro-Spinal Scaffold is surgically implanted at the epicenter of the wound after an acute spinal cord injury and acts by appositional healing to spare spinal cord tissue, decrease post-traumatic cyst formation, and decrease spinal cord tissue pressure in preclinical models of spinal cord contusion injury. The Neuro-Spinal Scaffold, an investigational device, has received a Humanitarian Use Device designation and is currently being studied in a pilot study for the treatment of complete (AIS A) traumatic acute spinal cord injury.

About InVivo Therapeutics

InVivo Therapeutics Holdings Corp. is a pioneering biomaterials and biotechnology company with a focus on treatment of spinal cord injuries. The company was founded in 2005 with proprietary technology co-invented by Robert Langer, ScD, Professor at Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and Joseph P. Vacanti, MD, who then was at Boston Children’s Hospital and who now is affiliated with Massachusetts General Hospital. In 2011 the company earned the David S. Apple Award from the American Spinal Injury Association for its outstanding contribution to spinal cord injury medicine. The publicly-traded company is headquartered in Cambridge, MA. For more details, visit www.invivotherapeutics.com.

About Carolinas HealthCare System

Carolinas HealthCare System (carolinashealthcare.org), one of the nation’s leading and most innovative healthcare organizations, provides a full spectrum of healthcare and wellness programs throughout North and South Carolina. Its diverse network of care locations includes academic medical centers, hospitals, freestanding emergency departments, physician practices, surgical and rehabilitation centers, home health agencies, nursing homes and behavioral health centers, as well as hospice and palliative care services. Carolinas HealthCare System works to enhance the overall health and wellbeing of its communities through high quality patient care, education and research programs, and numerous collaborative partnerships and initiatives.

Safe Harbor Statement

Any statements contained in this press release that do not describe historical facts may constitute forward-looking statements within the meaning of the federal securities laws. These statements can be identified by words such as "believe," "anticipate," "intend," "estimate," "will," "may," "should," "expect" and similar expressions, and include statements regarding the company’s ability to enroll additional patients in the pilot trial and the company’s ability to conduct a second pivotal study. Any forward-looking statements contained herein are based on current expectations, and are subject to a number of risks and uncertainties. Factors that could cause actual future results to differ materially from current expectations include, but are not limited to, risks and uncertainties relating to the company’s ability to successfully open additional clinical sites for enrollment and to enroll additional patients; the timing of the Institutional Review Board process; the company’s ability to obtain FDA approval to commercialize its products; the company’s ability to develop, market and sell products based on its technology; the expected benefits and efficacy of the company’s products and technology in connection with spinal cord injuries; the availability of substantial additional funding for the company to continue its operations and to conduct research and development, clinical studies and future product commercialization; and other risks associated with the company’s business, research, product development, regulatory approval, marketing and distribution plans and strategies identified and described in more detail in the company’s Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2013, as amended, and its other filings with the SEC, including the company’s Form 10-Qs and current reports on Form 8-K. The company does not undertake to update these forward-looking statements.