• NEUROLAC® nerve conduit to be evaluated in 170+ patient CONNECT study over 36 months, with interim results due in Q4 2017 and full results in H2 2019
• Study centre – the Birmingham Hand Centre, part of the NHS’s Queen Elizabeth Hospital in Birmingham, a leading UK centre in hand and reconstructive surgery
Groningen, The Netherlands, 7 Dec 2016 – Polyganics, a privately held medical technology company focused on the development, manufacturing and commercialization of innovative bioresorbable medical devices that facilitate tissue repair and regeneration, announced today the launch of the CONNECT study, in collaboration with the Birmingham Hand Centre, part of the University Hospitals Birmingham NHS Foundation Trust in the UK. The study has been developed to deliver improvements in peripheral nerve repair after injury.
The CONNECT (COnduit Nerve approximation versus Neurorrhaphy Evaluation of Clinical outcome Trial) study will evaluate the benefits of using Polyganics’ NEUROLAC® nerve guide in a novel technique called “tensionless repair” for finger nerve surgery, to improve the quality of nerve regeneration. Complex nerve injuries to the hand are quite common, with approximately 300,000 cases a year in Europe alone, according to a recent publication in Biomaterials1. Such injuries can create a long term or even permanent issue for patients, some of whom will experience chronic pain or never recover full feeling in their hands. This study will assess the advantages of using a nerve conduit as an addition to microsurgical neurorrhaphy, or nerve suturing for recovering sensitivity of injured fingers. The Birmingham Hand Centre, at the Queen Elizabeth Hospital in Birmingham, is part of the University Hospitals Birmingham NHS Foundation Trust. It is a leading UK centre in hand and reconstructive surgery.
CONNECT’s Chief Investigator Mr. Dominic Power will lead the “tensionless repair” efficacy study of around 170 patients (or 240 lesions to the hand) enrolled across three equal sized lesion groups over 18 months, with a 12-month follow-up, giving an anticipated duration (including analysis) of 36 months. One group will receive direct microsurgical suture, one will receive suture with NEUROLAC® nerve conduit augmentation, and the third group will receive NEUROLAC® nerve conduits with remote suture away from the injury site. Interim results are expected in Q4 2017 and full results in H2 2019.
Mr. Dominic Power, Consultant Hand and Peripheral Nerve Surgeon of the Birmingham Hand Centre, said; “Birmingham has been leading the way in nerve research in the UK and I hope that the results of this CONNECT study will lead to further benefits for patients worldwide.”
Rudy Mareel, CEO of Polyganics, said; “Our nerve conduit NEUROLAC® is designed to help patients recover sensitivity in injured fingers where a nerve has been cut, thereby helping them to a full recovery, whilst significantly reducing the risk of painful neuroma formation. This collaboration with the internationally recognized center of excellence for hand surgery in the UK should demonstrate conclusively that many more patients with finger injuries can benefit from Polyganics’ innovative peripheral nerve repair products.”
Polyganics will provide financial support for the trial. The Birmingham Hand Centre is the initiator of the CONNECT study, which will be based at the Institution for Translational Medicine and the Surgical Reconstruction and Microbiology Research Center at the University Hospitals Birmingham NHS Foundation Trust.
1Haastert-Talini K, Geuna S, Dahlin LB, Meyer C, Stenberg L, Freier T, et al. Chitosan tubes of varying degrees of acetylation for bridging peripheral nerve defects. Biomaterials. 2013;34:9886–904. doi:10.1016/j.biomaterials. 2013.08.074 https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4727346/
