InVivo Therapeutics received a United States patent for the methods and treatment covering their investigational Neuro-Spinal Scaffold for spinal cord injury treatment.
Here are five key notes:
1. The technology is currently being studied in three patients after successful implantation. The company plans to expand the initial test to five patients.
2. The patent also covers InVivo's Neuro-Spinal Scaffold Plus Stem Cells program, which is currently in the early developmental stages to treat chronic spinal cord injury.
3. This new patent covers broader compositions for both products than the previous patent, granted October 2014. The company is the exclusive licensee of the intellectual property for spinal cord injury and other indications through a Boston Children's Hospital and Massachusetts Institute of Technology license.
4. Bob Langer, MD, is first inventor on the patent applications, and one of 11 professors at MIT to be awarded both the United States National Medical of Service and the United States National Medal of Technology and Innovation.
5. Co-inventors of the technology are Rajiv Saigal, MD, and Yang Teng, MD.
"This notice of allowance is a significant step in the advancement of our intellectual property estate that broadens the area of our market exclusivity," said Mark Perrin, InVivo CEO and Chairman. "We are constantly evaluating innovative materials that could provide treatments for spinal cord injury patients, and this new protection allows us to utilize a wider array of building blocks to advance this important initiative."