Vericel Reports Orthobiologics Growth for 4Q17, 2017

Vericel posted 4Q17 orthobiologic revenue of US $16.1MM, +26.8% vs. 4Q16, and 2017 revenue of $43.9MM, +13.2% vs. 2016.

MACI Update

We’re one year into the launch of MACI, and in the second quarter following discontinuation of U.S. Carticel sales. The matrix shown above compares all-MACI revenue in 4Q17 to all-Carticel revenue in 4Q16, and reflects MACI + Carticel for 2017 vs. just Carticel in 2016.

To date, ~600 surgeons are trained on the MACI procedure, an increase from 440 at the end of 3Q17. Of trained docs, about 50% were former Carticel or non-Carticel users. Another strong indicator of MACI growth is an increase in the number of biopsies—this grew +33% in 2017 vs. 2016, and +48% for 4Q17 vs. 4Q16.

To support what is expected to be continued momentum, VCEL is expanding the MACI salesforce from 28 reps in 4 regions to 40 reps in 5 regions; new additions should be trained by the end of 1Q18.

The Competition

MACI is a cartilage repair product addressing the sports medicine market. Its main competing treatments in the U.S. are microfracture and osteochondral allograft. Microfracture can be augmented with allograft-derived products like Cartiform®, marketed by Arthrex, and Prochondrix® marketed by AlloSource. Zimmer Biomet offers DeNovo® NT juvenile donor-derived allograft.

While MACI is the only FDA-approved autologous chondrocyte implantation (ACI) product on the U.S. market, two other ACI products are in development: Histogenics’ NeoCart and Aesculap’s NovoCart 3D.

Enrollment is complete for the Phase III clinical trial comparing NeoCart to microfracture, and Histogenics is pursuing a 2H19 market launch. NovoCart 3D is in U.S. clinicals for articular cartilage repair; it has been in commercial use in the EU since 2003.

Source: Vericel Corporation