Vericel Corp. (VCEL)

[commoncentsinvestor]

MACI being reviewed for treatment of ankle injuries.

Osteochondral lesions of the talus (OLT) are the most common ankle articular cartilage injury. OLT occur in up to 50% of acute ankle sprains and are frequently associated with sports-related injuries [1]. While ankle injuries are suffered by approximately 1 per 10,000 people in the general US population per day, the athletic injury rate is much higher at 5.2 injuries per 10,000 athlete exposures and as high as 9.4 injuries per 10,000 athlete exposures during competitive events [2, 3].

Matrix-induced autologous chondrocyte implantation

Evidence in the literature has demonstrated arthroscopic MACI as a safe alternative for the treatment of OLT with good overall clinical and radiologic results. Giza et al. [39] assessed the clinical outcome following MACI in 10 patients over 2 years. The mean AOFAS score improved by 13 points after 1 year and was maintained after 2 years. Aurich et al. [42] reported, in a case series of 19 ankles, significant improvement of the AOFAS score from 58.6 to 80.4 at a mean follow-up of 24 months. In the athletic population, 81% patients returned to sports after MACI, of which 56% returned to preinjury level. In an additional study, Magnan et al. [43] evaluated 30 patients with a mean lesion size of 2.36 cm2. The mean AOFAS score improved from 36.9 preoperatively to 83.9 postoperatively, and 50% patients returned to previous sports. Giannini et al. [44] reported, in what we believe to be the largest case series with the longest follow-up, a study involving 46 ankles with a mean follow-up of 87.2 months. The authors reported that the mean AOFAS score was 92 at final follow-up. Among 25 patients who practiced sports, 20 returned to preinjury sports level, 3 resumed the same sport at a lower level, 2 shifted to a non-contact sport, and 4 patients gave up sports. Four professional soccer players included in the study were all able to resume their previous activity. Currently, this procedure is not approved in the USA for generalized use.

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5344864/