Positive data from Piramal Healthcare’s BST-CarGel Phase III cartilage repair trial

Piramal Healthcare Bio-Orthopaedics, a division of Piramal Healthcare Limited [NSE: PIRHEALTH, BSE: 500302], today announced that positive data from their pivotal (Phase III) clinical trial is being presented in 3 podium presentations as well as during an Industry Symposium at the 10^th World Congress of the International Cartilage Repair Society (ICRS), May 12 to 15, in Montreal, Quebec, Canada.

Dr William Stanish, Orthopaedic Surgeon, Professor of Surgery at Dalhousie University in Halifax, Nova Scotia, and Principal Investigator for the trial, commented: "The significant level of evidence from the BST-CarGel^® clinical trial, using multiple and independent methodologies, truly supports the positive effect of BST-CarGel^® over the standard of care on both the quantity and quality of regenerated cartilage tissue. This represents a cost-effective, off-the-shelf surgical alternative that may dramatically improve cartilage repair over traditional methods in a minimally invasive manner."

This international, multicenter randomized clinical trial was conducted to evaluate BST-CarGel^® efficacy at 12 months in repairing cartilage lesions and improving patient clinical symptoms, compared to a surgical control called microfracture, the current standard of care. The trial represents the first of its kind in cartilage repair using novel, 3-dimensional quantitative MRI techniques that substantially improve comparisons of repair cartilage structure (quantity and quality) through standardized data acquisition and precise and blinded analyses.

BST-CarGel^® treatment met both co-primary trial endpoints by achieving statistical significance over microfracture in both the degree of filling of treated lesions and the quality of the new tissue.  

Overall, this trial demonstrated that cartilage repair structural outcomes resulting from BST-CarGel^® treatment were superior at 12 months to microfracture, the current standard of care, with a similar safety profile. This represents a critical finding as cartilage structure (quantity and quality) is believed to translate to longer durability and sustained clinical benefit.

"The 2012 ICRS World Congress is the best venue for Piramal to announce our positive clinical findings for BST-CarGel^® as the ICRS membership includes the most renowned international orthopaedic surgeons and researchers in this growing clinical field," remarked Dr. Swati A. Piramal, Director, Piramal Healthcare Limited, "Our Symposium at ICRS represents the next step in our commercialization pathway for this exciting new medical device." Dr. Piramal also serves on the Dean's Advisory Board of the Harvard School of Public Health and Harvard Business School.

SOURCE Piramal Healthcare Ltd