CAMBRIDGE, Mass.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--InVivo Therapeutics Holdings Corp. (NVIV) today announced an innovative strategy for the treatment of chronic spinal cord injury (SCI). The company will focus its research efforts for chronic SCI on Bioengineered Neural Trails™. Bioengineered Neural Trails are injectable combinations of biomaterials and neural stem cells (NSCs) delivered using minimally-invasive surgical instrumentation and techniques to create trails across the chronic injury site. To support this strategy, InVivo has entered into agreements with the University of California, San Diego (UC San Diego) and James Guest, M.D., Ph.D., to expand the company’s intellectual property portfolio. InVivo entered into an exclusive license agreement with UC San Diego for issued patent US 9,011,410 titled “Spinal Multisegmental Cell and Drug Delivery System,” and into an assignment agreement with Dr. Guest for issued patent US 7,666,177 titled “Method and System for Cellular Transplantation in the Spinal Cord.” InVivo also has filed a provisional application in support of the Bioengineered Neural Trails program titled “Methods and Systems for Delivery of a Trail of a Therapeutic Substance.”
“Our goal is to restore neuronal connectivity and thereby promote neurological recovery in people with chronic SCI,” said Tom Ulich, M.D., Chief Scientific Officer of InVivo. “Our minimally-invasive therapeutic approach is to bridge the spinal cord lesion at the time of implantation with a trail of NSCs delivered in an injectable and biodegradable soft, gel-like scaffold. We look forward to presenting our preclinical results in the spinal cords of small and large animals during the Key Opinion Leader Event and Company Update on Thursday. ”
Mark Perrin, Chief Executive Officer and Chairman of InVivo, said, “We are excited about our novel Bioengineered Neural Trails program for the treatment of chronic spinal cord injury. The newly secured patents along with our provisional patent application provide the intellectual property foundation for our Bioengineered Neural Trails program.”
The company will discuss its innovative strategy for the treatment of chronic SCI during the KOL Event and Company Update webcast at 5:15PM ET on Thursday. The webcast will be broadly accessible through http://lifesci.rampard.com/20151203.
To learn more about our approach to chronic spinal cord injury, visit
the InVivo Therapeutics website:
http://www.invivotherapeutics.com/research-clinical-development/pipeline/bioengineered-neural-trails/.
About Bioengineered Neural Trails™
Bioengineered Neural Trails are injectable combinations of biomaterials and neural stem cells (NSCs) delivered using minimally invasive surgical instrumentation and techniques to create trails across the chronic spinal cord injury site. InVivo’s Bioengineered Neural Trails program is currently being advanced preclinically by the Research and Development team at InVivo for the treatment of chronic spinal cord injury.
About InVivo Therapeutics
InVivo Therapeutics Holdings Corp. is a research and clinical-stage 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, Sc.D., Professor at Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and Joseph P. Vacanti, M.D., 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. In 2015, the company’s investigational Neuro-Spinal Scaffold™ received the 2015 Becker’s Healthcare Spine Device Award. The publicly-traded company is headquartered in Cambridge, MA. For more details, visit www.invivotherapeutics.com.
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," “designed to,” “potentially,” and similar expressions, and include statements regarding the expected impact of the company’s Bioengineered Neural Trails program for the treatment of chronic SCI. 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 execute on its development strategy and to obtain FDA approval for future clinical studies; the expected benefits and efficacy of the company’s products and technology in connection with the treatment of 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, 2014, 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.
