DiscGenics Presents Promising Preclinical Study Results at ORS 2018

SALT LAKE CITY, March 22, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- DiscGenics, Inc., a clinical stage regenerative medicine company focused on developing cell therapies that alleviate pain and restore function in patients with degenerative diseases of the spine, today announced it has presented results from two preclinical studies of IDCT at the Orthopedic Research Society (ORS) 2018 Annual Meeting, which was held last week in New Orleans, LA.

The studies highlight the safety and regenerative capacity of Discogenic Cells, the active ingredient in the Company's lead product candidate, IDCT, an allogeneic (donor-derived), noninvasive cell therapy for the treatment of degenerative disc disease (DDD).

Discogenic Cells are highly specialized therapeutic progenitor cells derived from donated intervertebral disc tissue and engineered to address the complex environment of the degenerated disc. For the purposes of these studies and for the Company's Phase I/II clinical trial of IDCT, the Discogenic Cells are combined with a viscous delivery vehicle prior to injection.

The two studies presented, which evaluated the safety and bioactivity of Discogenic Cells implanted in subcutaneous pouches of athymic mice and rabbit disc models, respectively, demonstrated that Discogenic Cells:

• Are safe and non-tumor forming;
• Have the ability to generate intervertebral-like tissue; and
• Resulted in disc height improvement and normalization of tissue architecture.

Results from these studies support DiscGenics' recently initiated U.S. clinical trial of IDCT. The prospective, randomized, double-blinded, vehicle and placebo-controlled study will evaluate the cell therapy's safety and preliminary efficacy in subjects with single-level, symptomatic lumbar DDD, a major cause of chronic low back pain.

To learn more about the study, please visit clinicaltrials.gov.

The following posters are now available for download at discgenics.com:

• Evaluation of Intervertebral Disc-Derived Progenitor Cells Implanted In Subcutaneous Pouches of Athymic Mice (Poster #: 0779) presented Sunday, March 11.
• Safety and Bioactivity of Disc-Derived Progenitor Cells to Treat Degenerative Disc Disease in a Rabbit Disc Model (Poster #: 1465) presented on Monday, March 12.

The ORS Annual Meeting is a leading forum for presentations of high quality, innovative and transformative research. For more information on the ORS Annual Meeting, visit www.ors.org.

About DiscGenics
DiscGenics is a privately held, clinical stage regenerative medicine company focused on developing cell therapies that alleviate pain and restore function in patients with degenerative diseases of the spine. DiscGenics is harnessing the restorative potential of cells native to the intervertebral disc to develop what we hope will be a profound therapeutic option for millions of patients suffering from the debilitating effects of back pain. DiscGenics' first product candidate, IDCT, is a homologous, allogeneic (donor-derived), injectable cell therapy that utilizes proprietary Discogenic Cells to offer a non-surgical, potentially regenerative solution for the treatment of patients with mild to moderate degenerative disc disease. For more information, please visit discgenics.com.

SOURCE DiscGenics, Inc.