Number of patients getting Cartistem tops 30,000: Medipost

Medipost, a Korean biotech company, said Monday that the cumulative number of patients treated with its knee osteoarthritis stem cell therapy Cartistem has surpassed 30,000.

Cartistem is an allogeneic umbilical cord blood-derived stem cell therapy approved in Korea in 2012. It became famous when former national soccer team coach Gus Hiddink underwent knee surgery in 2014 and 2022. According to Medipost, since its launch, Cartistem sales have grown at an annual growth rate of 36 percent through 2023, becoming the first Korean stem cell therapy to exceed 20 billion won ($14.4 million) in annual sales.

Medipost is preparing for global clinical trials of Cartistem. It has won recognition for its clinical results and long-term follow-up results in Korea to be able to enter a confirmatory clinical trial immediately.

For the U.S. clinical trial, the company focuses on preparing for the Investigational New Drug (IND) application for a phase 3 clinical trial, skipping phase 2, and finalizing the clinical protocol through a meeting with the U.S. FDA.

The Japanese trial has entered phase 3, skipping phases 1 and 2, with more than 90 percent of the targeted patients enrolled and screening and dosing underway, with patient dosing targeted for the second half of this year.

Medipost attended the 2024 Bio International Convention (BIO USA), the world's largest bio-industry exhibition, in San Diego, Calif., earlier this month to share the clinical progress of Cartistem with global pharmaceutical companies and hold active business discussions, including technology export.

"It is gratifying to know that Cartistem, which was born after hard work, has given hope to countless patients suffering from knee pain for over 10 years," Medipost CEO Oh Won-il said. "We will strive for global clinical trials so that Cartistem can improve the quality of life of knee osteoarthritis patients worldwide beyond Korea."