Osteoarthritis

Osteoarthritis Pain

Osteoarthritis (OA) is the most common joint disease affecting over 500 million people worldwide [1]. In OA the whole joint deteriorates progressively over time causing pain, swelling, and stiffness. OA can affect any joint in the body but most often the knees accounting for over 80% of OA cases globally [2].
People with knee OA suffer from debilitating pain for an average of 28 years from the initial diagnosis. Over time the chronic pain gets more intense interfering with daily activities and even causing disability.

Unmet Clinical Need

Knee OA has no cure. As the disease progresses, patients need to take stronger and more damaging combinations of treatments to control their pain and continue with daily activities.

Treating knee OA costs over $50 billion in the US and Europe, averaging $12,000-$16,000 per patient's lifetime [3]. Currently, there are two types of pharmaceutical options for knee OA pain. Oral pain killers like NSAIDs or opioids are short acting and have serious side effects. Injectables include corticosteroids, which damage cartilage, and limited-effect viscosupplements. There is an urgent need for new therapies that address the topmost patient need for effective and safe pain relief.

Oral Pain killers

(NSAIDs, opioids)

Weaknesses:

  • Serious side effects

  • Damage vital organs

  • Opioids – highly addictive

Injectables

(corticosteroids, viscosupplements)

Weaknesses:

  • Short acting

  • Steroids – damage cartilage

  • Viscosupplements – limited relief

[1] Global Burden of Disease Collaborative Network (2020). Global Burden of Disease Study 2019 (GBD 2019) results. Osteoarthritis – level 3 cause. https://www.healthdata.org/results/gbd_summaries/2019/osteoarthritis-level-3-cause.

[2]  Wallace IJ, Worthington S, Felson DT, Jurmain RD, Wren KT, Maijanen H, et al (2017). Knee osteoarthritis has doubled in prevalence since the mid-20th century. Proc Natl Acad Sci USA 114:9332–9336.

[3] Ong KL, Runa M, Lau E, Altman R (2019). Cost-of-illness of knee osteoarthritis: potential cost savings by not undergoing arthroplasty within the first 2 years. CEOR 11:245–55.

Relevium Solution – RM-010

RM-010 is formulated for intra-articular injection. Our hydrogel is being developed for patients with moderate to severe knee OA, fitting into existing treatment pathways.

Superior pain relief

6 months relief

Lubrication

Local administration

Platfrom Product

RM-010 is a platform product and can be extended for clinical use in other joints affected by OA, where the same problems exist with current treatments.

Relevium Medical is honoured to be the lead partner on the ARTRIGEL project, which aims to transform care for patients with osteoarthritis. The ARTIGEL project is funded by the European Innovation Council under an EIC Transition Grant (Project #101058000). The 24-month grant runs over 2022 - 2024 and provides €2.4 million in funding to Relevium Medical and our collaborative partner, University of Galway. The project will validate and optimise our osteoarthritis focused technology RM-010 progressing it from laboratory scale and toward human use.