The cartilage repair market is expected to reach $2bn by 2030 driven by improvements in regenerative medicine, according to GlobalData. The leading data and analytics company notes that regenerative therapy, including the generation and use of stem cells, tissue engineering, and the production of artificial organs, has huge potential to revolutionize different areas of medicine such as joint repair.

Tina Deng, MSc, Principal Medical Devices Analyst at GlobalData, comments: “Of the total global joint repair market, cartilage repair makes up only a small percentage. Although there has been a slow uptake of regenerative therapies mainly due to the difficulties in fully regenerating highly specialized tissue, the pace of development is now accelerating. Regulatory bodies, such as the FDA, are currently investigating unproven stem cell therapies, which will help bring legitimacy to the field and pave the way for therapies that have undergone rigorous scientific and clinical testing.”

According to GlobalData’s deals database, over 490 deals related to regenerative medicine in the medical device industry have been completed so far in 2021. Companies in this space have collected $1.5bn in the same period, which is 95% of what was raised during all of 2020. This investment is expected to boost the innovation and application of regenerative medical devices. Moreover, as technology continues to improve, the share of cartilage repair is expected to increase and account for an increasing portion of the joint repair market.

Deng continues: “Damage to joint cartilage can result in inflammation, lack of mobility, and chronic pain in affected joints. Regenerative approaches seek to repair damaged joint tissue to restore joint function and to eliminate pain and mobility issues. Historically, regenerative approaches focus on tissue transplantation, often from a cadaver or from the patients themselves, but more recently there has been a push to provide specialized stem cell-based therapies to specifically regenerate damaged or diseased patient tissue.”