Ortho-ATITM Tendon Treatment Positive in Workers Compensation Study

Regenerative medicine company Orthocell Limited is pleased to announce the release of new positive results from a study of its tendon cell treatment for tennis elbow in 25 workers’ compensation patients.

The retrospective study was a collaboration between the University of Western Australia and leading orthopaedic surgeons Dr Alex O’Beirne from Perth and Dr Jeff Hughes from Sydney.

The data shows Orthocell’s autologous tenocyte injection treatment, Ortho-ATI^TM, significantly improved the clinical outcome of patients with long term tennis elbow degeneration, showing reduced pain and increased functionality enabling patients to return to work. A significant 88% of patients were able to return to work and more than 50% of these returned at full capacity following ATI treatment.

Assessments carried out by the treating surgeons 3-6 months following ATI treatment showed there was a reduction in pain by almost 90% at rest and 54% with usage of the affected limb. Most of the patients quickly returned to work (1-3 months) with a gradual increase in productivity to pre-injury levels (5.33 months).

“These are very positive outcomes in a group of patients that did not respond to other treatments, with injuries that inhibited their ability to remain in the workplace,” Dr O’Beirne said.

Dr Hughes said: “These are difficult to treat patients who are impeded in their ability to work and to carry out their essential duties. Ortho-ATI^TM has been instrumental in helping my patients to recover from long term tennis elbow injuries which have proved resistant to other modes of therapy.”

Patients described persistence of symptoms for an average of 22 months prior to treatment with Ortho-ATI™. Patients had failed to respond to alternative treatments including steroid injection(s) (60%), autologous blood and platelet rich plasma injection(s) (28%), physiotherapy (56%), bracing (32%), acupuncture and other (32%), or treatments with anti-inflammatories (12%). Patients had received at least one and as many as eight prior treatments (average of 2.52).

Orthocell CEO Paul Anderson said the data demonstrated that Ortho-ATI^TM can help people with a difficult to treat tendon injury.

“This type of injury can hinder a person’s ability to work and lead to individual hardship, as well as significant socio-economic costs from the loss of individual productivity and health care costs,” he said.

Tennis elbow is a common work related injury affecting 1%-3% of adults. Sixteen per cent of patients with tennis elbow require work restrictions and frequently (4-5%) need prolonged absences from work, with on average 29 days missed per patient. Office work, health care and manual work have been identified the top three affected occupations.^1,2

Although tennis elbow is generally a self-limiting condition, it results in significant disability, health care utilisation, lost productivity and cost. A recent study showed that in the 18% of tennis elbow patients who continued to require clinical care six months after diagnosis, the median duration of care was 844 days (Sanders, T. L. et al. Am. J. Sports Med. (2015)).

Transparency Market Research estimate that the US, Europe and Japan markets for tennis elbow treatment is estimated to be worth more than US$700 million in 2015.

About Orthocell Limited

Orthocell is a commercial-stage, regenerative medicine company focused on regenerating mobility for patients and our ageing population by developing products for a variety of tendon, cartilage and soft tissue injuries. Orthocell’s portfolio of products include TGA-approved stem cell therapies Autologous Tenocyte Implantation (Ortho-ATI™) and Autologous Chondrocyte Implantation (Ortho-ACI™), which aim to regenerate damaged tendon and cartilage tissue. The Company’s other major product is Celgro™, a collagen medical device which facilitates tissue repair and healing in a variety of orthopaedic, reconstructive and surgical applications and is being readied for first regulatory approvals.

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