Tennis elbow tendon treatment results

Regenerative medicine company Orthocell (ASX:OCC) has released positive follow-up data from a study of its tendon cell treatment for tennis elbow in workers compensation patients.

Tennis elbow is a common work-related injury affecting 1–3% of adults. Over 15% of patients with tennis elbow require work restrictions and frequently (4–5%) need prolonged absences from work, with on average 29 days missed per patient.

The retrospective study, conducted by The University of Western Australia and orthopaedic surgeons Dr Alex O’Beirne and Dr Jeff Hughes, looked at the TGA-approved stem cell therapy Ortho-ATI in 25 patients with long-term tennis elbow degeneration. Patients had described persistence of symptoms for an average of 22 months prior to treatment with Ortho-ATI, having failed to respond to alternative treatments.

“These are difficult-to-treat patients who are impeded in their ability to work and to carry out their essential duties,” said Dr Hughes.

Assessments carried out by the surgeons, 3–6 months following ATI treatment, showed there was a reduction in pain by almost 90% at rest and 54% with usage of the affected limb. 88% of patients were able to return to work — most within 1–3 months — with a gradual increase in productivity to pre-injury levels (5.33 months).

“Ortho-ATI has been instrumental in helping my patients to recover from long-term tennis elbow injuries which have proved resistant to other modes of therapy,” said Dr Hughes.

The news follows other recent announcements regarding Ortho-ATI trials that took place earlier this month.

The first, presented at the annual scientific meetings of the Australian and Singaporean Orthopaedic Associations, regarded the retrospective analysis of 38 patients with symptomatic cartilage defects of the knee and ankle. Two-year follow-up data showed 89% good to excellent outcomes on MRI assessment and 83% good to excellent outcomes on arthroscopic assessment.

The second, released at the South African Sports Medicine Association Biennial Scientific Meeting, presented previously released data for the treatment of recalcitrant tendon injuries in the hip and elbow. The hip study found Ortho-ATI demonstrated significant clinical improvement for recalcitrant gluteal tendinopathy to 12 months and maintained to 24 months, while the elbow study demonstrated durable long-term repair with a 207% improvement in grip strength.

Orthocell (ASX:OCC) shares were trading 5.88% higher at $0.63 as of around 1 pm on Wednesday.

Image credit: ©freeimages.com/Moi Cody