STTR Phase I: Injectable Biotherapeutic for Treatment of Post-Traumatic Osteoarthritis

This Small Business Technology Transfer (STTR) Phase I project develops an injectable therapeutic to treat post-traumatic osteoarthritis (PTOA). PTOA is a painful disease of the cartilage caused by external mechanical force. The current treatment for PTOA involves an invasive surgical procedure - total joint replacement - which is often associated with infections and may need a revision knee replacement. There is no disease-modifying osteoarthritis drug nor a non-surgical cure for these patients. While some drugs help mitigate pain, they have no effect on disease progression, and their use can be limited greatly by their potential severe side effects. This solution serves as the first and only treatment to slow the progression of PTOA, which would prevent PTOA patients from potentially suffering a lifetime of pain and expenses. As a result, customers will potentially save thousands of dollars, acquire peace of mind that they have taken the only action to help prevent the development of osteoarthritis, and most of all, prevent a cycle of increasing pain, medical issues, and associated treatments with their injury. This Small Business Technology Transfer (STTR) Phase I project will lead to an optimized, deimmunized therapeutic that changes the disease progression of post-traumatic osteoarthritis (PTOA). The solution combines a unique thermoresponsive hydrogel carrier capable of sustained delivery of a therapeutic protein that enables disease modification when delivered via a single injection, avoiding the surgical procedure in total joint replacement. State-of-the-art computational tools will be employed to improve the properties of the hydrogel and experimentally test the constructs for function. This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.