Sprifermin (AS902330) in Cartilage Injury Repair (CIR)

Several people all over the world suffer from cartilage injuries in the knee. Symptoms include pain, joint swelling, and loss of function. Without repair, cartilage injury may ultimately lead to osteoarthritis (OA). Natural healing is poor, and to date treatment is available only for deep cartilage defects involving also the underlying bone. A promising candidate for drug treatment of cartilage injury is sprifermin (AS902330), a recombinant form of the human fibroblast growth factor (FGF) 18. So far, the drug has been used in subjects with different stages of knee OA in two ongoing studies without emerging safety issues following single and multiple intra-articular injections of ascending doses. However, OA represents late-stage cartilage injury, where repair might be difficult due to diffuse damage, reduced responsiveness of the cartilage, and/or the involvement of other joint structures. This clinical trial is meant to provide the proof of concept and to identify an efficacious dose of sprifermin (AS902330) for the treatment of adult subjects with acute cartilage injuries of the knee. The first subject for this trial was treated on the 19th of April 2010.