Reduce Soft Tissue Injuries & Down Days With Novel Collagen Intervention

Momentous seeks to deliver a novel, military-adapted joint health intervention designed to maximize the body’s own collagen synthesis. Service members are at a 2x-5x greater risk for musculoskeletal injury than civilians and promoting collagen is a critical countermeasure.  This proposal includes well-designed research to be conducted by key opinion leader, Dr. Keith Baar, at his UC Davis lab to isolate novel ingredients that further promote collagen synthesis and subsequent joint health and strength in the body. These ingredients will be combined into our current hydrolyzed collagen and vitamin C commercial solution which is the world’s only ready-to-drink liquid collagen product designed specifically for the joint health of professional athletes. Musculoskeletal injuries are the leading source of down days causing 25 million limited duty days DoD-wide annually resulting in 2.4 million medical visits to military treatment facilities and accounting for $548 million in direct patient care costs. Across the US military, lower extremity overuse injuries are the leading cause of being medically not ready for duty, as well as lost and limited duty days. Injured trainees are 3 times as likely to be discharged, and injured trainees who don’t graduate are 2.88 times as likely to graduate late. The 4th International Congress on Soldiers’ Physical Performance (ICSPP) identified the reduction & mitigation of musculoskeletal injuries to be 2 of the top 10 research priorities for warfighter performance.  This effort will leverage UC Davis to identify the single most critical components of collagen synthesis to introduce the most effective and influential nutrients and ingredients to our existing collagen shot.  The resulting formulation will cut away unneeded elements for a smaller, more potent product.  The increase in potency reduces the logistical footprint of the intervention in storage, transport, and individual service member use.  The desired end state is a product that more effectively influences collagen synthesis and deposition, and thereby reduces musculoskeletal injury, while posing less of a burden to the DoD as a whole.  The team of collaborators joining Momentous includes among others: the world’s #1 collagen researcher, Keith Baar (Ph.D., Professor of Molecular Exercise Physiology, UC Davis). The RDT&E includes phases for product design, clinical research, manufacturing and acceptance testing. A clinical research study will be performed in vitro and among athletes at UC Davis under Dr. Keith Baar to demonstrate solution superiority.  This effort will adapt the composition of Momentous Collagen Shot, a leading collagen product, to meet the military-specific use case of Defense-unique joint health. The design adds ingredients to further enhance the processes influencing strong and resilient joints.  Momentous’ solution promotes collagen synthesis, deposition, and matrix building alongside tendon and ligament strength and bone density improvement.