Osteoarthritis is a painful condition where the cartilage in your joints wears down over time.
Up until now, people with this condition have only had two choices: pain relief methods or joint replacement surgery. Neither of these tackles the root cause of the problem.
So, basically, you’re stuck with band-aid solutions. This is a big issue considering osteoarthritis affects a whopping 500 million people worldwide and is a leading cause of disability among older adults.
StemJEL: A Fresh Approach to an Old Problem
Mildred Embree, an assistant professor at Columbia University, wants to change the game. She runs a lab that focuses on cartilage and how to fix it when it’s damaged.
Recently, her team published research on a new drug they developed called StemJEL.
This drug is designed to treat osteoarthritis in its early to middle stages by actually protecting the cartilage, which could help you avoid surgery.
Cartilage is like your body’s natural cushioning system for your joints.
The problem is, it can’t fix itself if it gets damaged because it doesn’t have a blood supply or access to healing cells called stem cells. StemJEL aims to mimic how your body naturally keeps cartilage healthy.
In tests on rats, rabbits, and pigs, the StemJEL treatment improved osteoarthritis and helped joints work better.
It uses a special ingredient called sclerostin, which the researchers turned into a gel that can be injected directly into the joint.
Looking Toward the Future
Embree and her colleague Mo Chen, who also helped create StemJEL, have founded a biotech company and plan to talk to the FDA about taking their drug into clinical trials.
Their goal? To eventually offer StemJEL as a treatment option for patients.
By the year 2040, it’s estimated that nearly 79 million adults in the U.S. alone will have some form of arthritis.
This new drug could potentially offer a real solution to a long-standing problem that only seems to be getting worse as people live longer and their joints continue to age.
So, if you’re one of the millions of people dealing with the daily pain and limitations of osteoarthritis, keep an eye on StemJEL. It could be the breakthrough we’ve all been waiting for.
If you care about bone health, please read studies about COVID-19 leads to inflammation, causing bone loss and fractures and findings of Weak bone is a sign of dementia risk.
For more information about bone health, please read studies about how to protect your bones with exercise, and eating prunes may help prevent bone loss in older women.
The research findings can be found in Cell Stem Cell.
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