Member Article

Patients gain access to innovative new procedure for knee osteoarthritis as HCA UK partners with Contura Orthopaedics

A novel procedure to help treat the discomfort of knee osteoarthritis will now be available to even more patients living across London and the UK, following the announcement from Contura Orthopaedics Ltd that a major hospital group has signed up to the use of Arthrosamid®.

The new partnership with HCA Healthcare UK will initially see the single use injection for knee osteoarthritis (OA) offered to patients at The Princess Grace Hospital and The Institute of Sport, Exercise and Health (ISEH). It will be performed by internationally recognised sport and exercise medicine physicians, who see patients for musculoskeletal disorders in addition to sporting injuries and complaints at its state-of-the-art facility located on Tottenham Court Road in Central London. The treatment will be rolled out across other facilities across the HCA Healthcare UK group in the coming months.

Arthrosamid® is a polyacrylamide hydrogel first developed by Contura International Ltd. It is a long-lasting intra-articular injection approved in Europe for the treatment of knee OA. The treatment has the potential to change the present care pathway for managing OA, which affects approximately 8.5 million people in the UK (around 1 in 5 people aged over 45 in England). Despite this large suffering population, many current treatments have limited impact, with invasive knee replacement surgery often viewed as the ultimate solution.

The ongoing expansion of Arthrosamid® availability across the UK and Europe, represents an innovative solution to manage OA more effectively, and potentially delaying or even removing the need for surgery.

Signally the start of this exciting new partnership, Arthrosamid® has already been administered by Dr Noel Pollock at ISEH, treating patients who were considered currently ineligible for knee replacement surgery and, as such, were seeking long lasting and non-invasive pain relief. The patients will now be followed up closely to observe potential benefits, ‘paving the way’ for more patients to make the informed decision of opting for Arthrosamid® as a viable treatment option for knee pain caused by OA.

Contura’s CEO, Rakesh Tailor comments; “We’re delighted to be working with the teams at The Princess Grace Hospital and ISEH through our new relationship with HCA UK.

“As we gather more and more compelling scientific data, we really do believe that Arthrosamid® - which was designed to be delivered in out-patient clinics without any hospital stay - will prove to have a multiyear benefit for patients that will completely change the management of knee OA pain and delay the need for invasive knee surgery.”

He adds; “The discomfort caused by knee OA can hugely impact a patient’s quality of life, making everyday activities really challenging. For patients not suitable for surgery, or deemed too young for a knee replacement, Arthrosamid® represents a game changing option as a safe non-degrading hydrogel in a single injection which can provide sustained pain relief. This latest collaboration with HCA will help to widen access to Arthrosamid®, taking us a step further towards fulfilling our vision of helping thousands more patients find relief from the pain of knee OA.”

New data (first released at the Annual Congress of OA Research International, OARSI, in March 2022) highlights impressive 2-year results, showing that a single injection of Arthrosamid® continued to be “well-tolerated and demonstrated clinically relevant and statistically significant effectiveness in reducing pain, at 2 years after treatment”.

In all trials to date, the treatment has been shown to have no serious adverse events with any device related events mild and transient in nature. And a growing number of anecdotal cases in Denmark report many patients, 5-8 years out from treatment are still pain free.

Professor Fares Haddad, Clinical Director at ISEH and Consultant Orthopaedic Surgeon, said: Early evidence is encouraging and the team at ISEH is therefore undertaking a detailed analysis of its effectiveness and impact on pain and function.“

Professor Mathew Wilson, Head of Sport and Exercise Medicine at ISEH added: “We’re excited to be partnering with Contura to collect robust scientific evidence on the potential effectiveness of this novel treatment on osteoarthritis. ISEH has integrated our dedicated musculoskeletal research unit to independently validate the potential benefits of this treatment in comparison to alternative treatments.”

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Jo Hudson .