InVivo Adds Thomas Jefferson University Hospital to Study Sites

Cambridge, Mass.-based InVivo Therapeutics Holdings Corp. has added Thomas Jefferson University Hospital as a clinical site for The INSPIRE Study: InVivo Study of Probable Benefit of the Neuro-Spinal Scaffold for Safety and Neurologic Recovery in Subjects with Complete Thoracic AIS A Spinal Cord Injury. This brings the total number of clinical study sites to 18.

Thomas Jefferson University Hospital, in affiliation with the Magee Rehabilitation Hospital, is designated as one of the nation’s 14 Spinal Cord Injury (SCI) Model Systems Centers by the National Institute on Disability, Independent Living, and Rehabilitation Research (NIDILRR). James Harrop, M.D., professor of neurological surgery and co-director for adult reconstructive spine, has been named principal investigator at the site.

“Jefferson has established a deep-seated commitment to serving spinal cord injury patients, and we are thrilled to be taking part in InVivo’s novel clinical trial,” Harrop said.

“We welcome Dr. Harrop and his team to The INSPIRE Study. Their emphasis on serving the enormous unmet medical need in SCI is clearly demonstrated by their hospital being designated as an SCI Model Systems Center,” said Mark Perrin, InVivo’s CEO and chairman.

Following acute spinal cord injury, surgical implantation of the biodegradable Neuro-Spinal Scaffold within the decompressed and debrided injury epicenter is intended to support appositional healing, thereby reducing post-traumatic cavity formation, sparing white matter, and allowing neural regeneration across the healed wound epicenter. The Neuro-Spinal Scaffold, an investigational device, has received a humanitarian use device (HUD) designation and currently is being evaluated in the INSPIRE pivotal probable benefit study for the treatment of patients with complete (AIS A) traumatic acute spinal cord injury.

InVivo is a research and clinical-stage biomaterials and biotechnology company with a focus on treatment of spinal cord injuries.