CartiHeal (2009) Ltd, a privately held medical device developer of an off-the-shelf, cell-free cartilage regeneration technology, has been awarded the distinguished “Incubator Company Excellence Award” from the Israel Ministry of Economy’s Office of the Chief Scientist.
The award was granted in recognition of the “commendable achievements of the founder and the professional team, for the development of an advanced technology, from a preliminary idea to a sophisticated and innovative commercial product for the global markets."
CartiHeal’s Agili-C™ platform is based on a breakthrough cartilage repair technology that regenerates “true hyaline” cartilage with no addition of cells, growth factors or other exogenous agents. This proprietary “cell-free” implant enables a single-stage arthroscopic procedure to repair both chondral as well as osteochondral defects. The ability to regenerate hyaline cartilage, in a single-stage procedure, meets an acute unmet need and is the long-awaited “Holy Grail” in orthopedics. Histology performed by NAMSA demonstrated that the type of cartilage generated with Agili-CTM is collagen type II hyaline cartilage, rather than fibrocartilage, or “hyaline-like” tissue.
Agili-CTM has received CE approval and the company is currently running a post-marketing clinical study in leading European medical centers with very promising clinical and radiographic results.
Over the last twelve months, CartiHeal raised $10 million in venture funding from several venture firms, including Elron, Accelmed and Access Medical Ventures.
"It is a great privilege to receive this award", said Nir Altschuler, CartiHeal's founder and CEO. "We are honored that the distinguished committee recognized the significance of CartiHeal's scientific, technological, clinical and business achievements. We are eager to begin commercial activity with Agili-CTM, in parallel to our continuous efforts to develop our strong pipeline of products for other indications."
"CartiHeal’s proprietary solution positions the company at the forefront of progress in this promising market, by answering an acute unmet need with an enormous market potential,” added Lior Shahory, Peregrine Ventures - Incentive Incubator's CEO. "The company has achieved incredible scientific breakthroughs, combined with outstanding execution capabilities. The unique combination of a pioneering spirit, strong research and development and great execution has delivered a novel technology that will change the lives of millions of patients suffering from cartilage defects and injuries.”
Netta Cohen, CEO of BGN Technologies, BGU's technology transfer company noted, “We are proud that such a breakthrough technology originated in the cutting-edge laboratories of BGU.”
About CartiHeal
Founded in 2009, by Nir Altschuler and BG Negev Technologies Ltd at Incentive, Peregrine Ventures' incubator, CartiHeal is a privately held medical device company that develops proprietary technology for the regeneration of cartilage and bone disorders. CartiHeal is a spin-out of the Avram and Stella Goldstein-Goren Department of Biotechnology Engineering at Ben-Gurion University, Israel. Cartiheal's investors are Elron, AccelMed, Access Medical ventures and Pertec Management.
