Northwestern Memorial joins InVivo Therapeutics neuro-spinal scaffold trial

InVivo Therapeutics (NSDQ:NVIV) said today that Chicago’s Northwestern Memorial Hospital is the 23rd site to join the clinical trial of its neuro-spinal scaffold.

“Chicago, as with other major metropolitan areas, sees a disproportionally high number of acute, traumatic spinal cord injuries and unfortunately, with complete spinal cord injuries, trauma teams have limited tools at their disposal to treat this devastating condition. I look forward to being a part of the encouraging Inspire study,” site principal investigator Dr. Nader Dahdaleh said in prepared remarks.

“We welcome Dr. Dahdaleh and the team at Northwestern Memorial Hospital to the Inspire study. With this addition, we now have a site in each of the top 6 most populated cities in the U.S.,” added InVivo chairman & CEO Mark Perrin.

The Cambridge, Mass.-based company said yesterday that the Inspire trial’s conversion rate for improvement in the American Spinal Injury Assn.’s 50-point lower extremity motor score is 62.5% – more than double the trial’s objective performance criterion of 25% at 6 months.

InVivo said that the trial’s 9th spinal cord injury patient, implanted with its neuro-spinal scaffold last month, is already showing signs of improvement. The device is surgically implanted following acute spinal cord injuries to act as a physical substrate for nerve sprouting.

The trial’s 9th patient improved from a complete to incomplete spinal cord injury on the AIS scale between the 2nd and 3rd month after implantation; the patient is the 5th of 8 patients in the company’s Inspire study to show an AIS grade improvement, InVivo said.

In June, the company touted a case study of the 1st patient, showing improvement at 3 months to a Grade C incomplete injury and no procedural complications or safety issues at 6 months.  That patient demonstrated an 8-point gain in AIS score and additional bilateral motor function improvements between the 6-month and 12-month follow-ups.

In July, InVivo said the FDA cleared an expansion of the Inspire study to up to 20 patients and announced the 9th and 10th implantations in the trial (the 10th patient died of an unrelated stroke, the company said last month).

NVIV shares were up 9.2% to $7.61 apiece today in mid-afternoon trading.

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