Histogen Gains Funding to Advance Biologic Knee Cartilage Regeneration

Histogen was awarded a $2 million grant by the Peer Reviewed Orthopedic Research Program of the U.S. Department of Defense to help fund a U.S. Phase I/II clinical trial of HST-003 for regeneration of cartilage in the knee.

The trial is designed to evaluate HST-003 plus microfracture in 15 civilian and military patients with recent focal cartilage defects in the knee caused by injury.

Histogen’s human extracellular matrix/hECM is intended for regenerating hyaline cartilage for the treatment of articular cartilage defects with a malleable scaffold that stimulates the body’s own stem cells. Histogen’s HST-003 has demonstrated hyaline cartilage regeneration in three different in vivo animal models.

”These non-dilutive funds will support our efforts to clinically evaluate the safety and efficacy of our novel cartilage repair treatment which has applicability in both the military and civilian populations,” said Richard W. Pascoe, Histogen’s President and CEO. “As a former soldier, I understand that the health and readiness of our servicemembers is essential to our national defense. We are pleased to partner with the DoD and these prestigious clinical sites to advance HST-003 into the clinic in support of that effort.”