Lexington, KY - A new therapy developed in partnership with Lexington-based Equinext LLC and Hagyard Equine Medical Institute may improve recovery for horses suffering from some types of soft tissue injuries and neurological defects.
The injectable reagent, called NEXT (Nonsurgical Exogenous crosslink Therapy) was developed by Equinext, a biotech company belonging to Orthopeutics-Intralink Spine Inc., with expertise from veterinarians at Hagyard. Although the technology has not yet begun clinical trials, medical experts at Hagyard believe it could drastically change the way horses recover from injured ligaments or tendons.
Unlike fractured bones, ligaments and tendons do not have the same strength or elasticity after an injury as they had before, even when completely recovered. This creates a higher risk of re-injury and, for many equine athletes, prevents their return to the same level of competition they were in before the trauma.
These types of injuries also take considerably longer to heal than fractures, because it's difficult to immobilize an injured horse and almost impossible to safely take weight off the injured leg. When extra weight is distributed to the other legs to compensate for an injury on a long-term basis, laminitis becomes a concern. Although laminitis has many causes, it can occur when the blood supply to a foot is interrupted, particularly by extra pressure, and it causes the death of soft tissue inside the hoof. The disease is often very painful, expensive to treat, and can be deadly, as in the case of 2006 Kentucky Derby winner Barbaro.
According to Duncan Peters, DVM of Hagyard, horses with tendon or ligament injuries may be confined to their stalls for 30 to 60 days before they can even begin a rehabilitation program under normal circumstances. He hopes that NEXT will not only shorten healing time but improve strength of tissues upon recovery.
NEXT is injected directly into the injured ligament or tendon and strengthens the collagen proteins, reaching full effect within 30 to 60 minutes of application.
"I hope applying this product will enable more functional healing," he said.
Peters has not yet used the technology himself but will be conducting clinical trials, along with colleague Kim Sprayberry, which are anticipated to be complete by the third quarter of 2013.
He reports that he has already had clients requesting the NEXT treatment and anticipates it will be very popular.
"The jury's still out on stem cell and a lot of regenerative medicine applications (like this one). We don't have great evidence, even in human science Ö we have clients still that ask about it pretty much every day," said Peters.
The quick return of injured horses to work could have a profound financial impact on owners and trainers of race and sport horses that would previously have retired those horses; some 30 percent of competitive horses are thought to be affected by tendon or ligament injuries during their careers.
"We are excited to partner with Equinext to bring such an amazing technology to the animal care industry," said Andy Clark, DVM and CEO of Hagyard.
"Our vision is that the NEXT device will revolutionize how we treat these injuries, not only in competitive horses, but in pleasure horses and comfort animals as well."
Equinext, LLC, makers of NEXT, recently relocated to the University of Kentucky Coldstream Research Campus and quickly recognized the need for the product, which was similar to technology already used in human medicine.
"We realized shortly after we came to Lexington that our device originally designed to treat low back pain and knee meniscus tears in humans was an obvious cross-over technology for the equine industry," said Orthopeutics-Intralink Spine Inc. CEO Eric Hauck. "Lexington is one of the few places in the world for this to happen."
The move to Kentucky from Texas came after the company worked with the Lexington Fayette Urban County Government/Commerce Lexington/University of Kentucky economic development partnership, as well as through Hauck's work with the Kentucky Cabinet for Economic Development.
Lexington officials are thrilled to see the company's relocation to Coldstream, where Equinext will eventually have its own lab facility separate from the space it currently shares with Orthopeutics and four additional staff.
"It is very exciting to see a technology like this, which has multiple applications," said Warren Nash, director of the Lexington Innovation & Commercialization Center and part of the UK commercialization and economic development office, who is working on Equinext. "There is no question that it will have a huge impact on the Lexington-Bluegrass region's multimillion-dollar horse industry."