InVivo Therapeutics (OTC:NVIV) said the 1st acute spinal cord injury patient implanted with its investigational neuro-spinal scaffold has shown some improvement, but that a 2nd patient remains paralyzed below the waist, leading investors to punish the company’s stock price last week.
Shares of Cambridge, Mass.-based InVivo closed at $12.75 May 14, down -6.5% on the news from its investigational device exemption pilot study. The stock recovered a bit the next closing at $13.06 for a 2.4% gain on the day.
InVivo reported 6-month post-implant results for the 1st patient and 3-month data for the 2nd patient. Both received the company’s neuro-spinal scaffold, a biodegradable biopolymer device implanted at the epicenter of a spinal wound that’s designed to help heal and regenerate nerve tissue.
The 1st patient showed continued improvement in motor function from 3 months to 6 months after implantation, InVivo said. But the 2nd patient’s 3-month follow-up showed no change in paralysis below the waist, although there were some gains in trunk stability, self-care, mobility and bowel and bladder function, the company said.
InVivo CEO Mark Perrin said the results for both patients are noteworthy, even mixed results from the second individual.
"The 2nd patient’s progress is encouraging since the injury and patient’s condition at presentation were more severe, delaying spinal stabilization, decompression and scaffold implantation," Perrin said in prepared remarks. "We look forward to following the patients’ progress over the coming months and hope that they will demonstrate continued improvement."
Three more patients are due to be enrolled in the IDE pilot study, which added its 4th clinical site last March.
