Scarcell Therapeutics has treated the first patients with its allogenic gingival fibroblast (aGF) therapy using gum cells from a human donor as part of its Phase Ib clinical trial studying the therapy in knee osteoarthritis (OA).  

The first-in-human cases took place at Oxford University Hospitals, UK, and were led by Dr Alex Shearman and Dr Antony Palmer, orthopaedic surgeons and principal and co-investigator of the study, respectively, and Dr Rajat Chowdhury, a musculoskeletal radiologist who performed the intraarticular cell injection of the knee. 

OA is a complex, degenerative and incurable disease, involving multiple joint tissues and pain mechanisms.  

Scarcell’s patented aGF Therapy is designed to address all four of the major effects of OA – cartilage degeneration, joint inflammation, mobility and pain – in a single injection intended to be durable for up to one year. 

“We are excited to lead research into this novel cell therapy for early OA, in an effort to address the unmet needs of many patients whose symptoms can be debilitating,” said Dr Shearman. “The commencement of this trial is the result of a successful collaboration between orthopaedic surgeons, radiologists, specialist pharmacy and clinical research teams.” 

The Phase Ib clinical trial is studying a single intra-articular injection of aGF Therapy in 15 patients treated at Oxford University Hospital. The study will examine safety, as well as knee pain, inflammation and analgesic use.  

“Gingival cells are an exciting approach to study as donor cells do not trigger rejection by a patient’s immune system, unlike induced pluripotent stem cells (IPS) or embryonic stem cells (ES). As aGF therapy is immune tolerant, it results in cell survival and provides time for the MOAs to affect repair over several months without use of immunosuppressant drugs,” said Professor Antoine Lafont, Professor of Medicine, Paris-Cité University, France, and Founder of Scarcell Therapeutics.

Diana Turner, Deputy Editor, DDW