Adamis Pharmaceuticals Corporation (NASDAQ: ADMP) has announced the signing of an agreement making it the sole US distributor of Arthramid® Vet, a patented polyacrylamide hydrogel (PAAG) for intra-articular injection – the first PAAG labeled for veterinary use for the management of non-infectious causes of joint disease in horses including both early and late stages of osteoarthritis and degenerative joint disease.
The registration of Arthramid® Vet for use in horses signals a movement away from excessive anti- inflammatory treatments for this debilitating disease. Given the current intense focus on racehorse welfare from industry and numerous interest groups, the prospect of reducing equine corticosteroid use is another significant potential benefit.
Arthramid® Vet is injected into the joint. Biocompatible tissue matrix forms in the joint capsule, stabilizing both the joint and the synovium and increasing the elasticity of the joint capsule. These mechanisms help to end the discomfort associated with joint disease and reduce lameness by improving joint function.
Leading veterinarians experienced with Arthramid® Vet know how beneficial it can be. Equine veterinarian Dr. Omar Maher has had extremely positive experiences in his practice.
“We have used Arthramid® Vet since 2012 with significant success managing OA in horses. It is a main pillar of our strategy managing difficult cases,” he said.
Osteoarthritis accounts for up to 60% of lameness in horses and is often a debilitating, performance- limiting condition. Current treatments for OA in horses traditionally include injections of hyaluronic acid, often combined with a corticosteroid. Arthramid® Vet contains no active pharmaceutical ingredients and the hydrogel material contained in Arthramid® Vet's patented formula is hydrophilic, homogenous, biocompatible, viscoelastic, and completely non-toxic.
Arthramid® Vet manages the discomfort caused by this common equine joint disease, and its benefits have been shown to be long-lasting and increase over time. A randomized, prospective study evaluated the use of Arthramid® Vet compared with two other commonly used medications in the treatment of intercarpal joints. The three groups were given either: 1) 2 ml of 2.5% PAAG, 2) 12 mg triamcinolone; or 3) 20 mg hyaluronic acid followed by weekly intravenous doses of 40 mg hyaluronic acid given for 2 weeks. The results show that after treatment, more than 80% percent Arthramid® Vet-treated horses were free of lameness and had less reaction to flexion, whereas only 22-40% of the triamcinolone and hyaluronic acid treated horses were free of lameness.
Arthramid® Vet works within damaged joints by stimulating endogenous activity of synoviocytes whose activity has been impacted by OA. This gives hope that Arthramid® Vet may be useful in all stages of osteoarthritis including the earliest stage, often referred to as synovitis. Dr. Nancy Loving, in a March 2020 article about the use of polyacrylamide hydrogels in horses, wrote “With chronic synovitis, synovial fluid within the degraded synovial membrane recesses and inhibits tissue growth and interferes with disease modification. Injected hydrogel lays across the synovial membrane and its absorption enables proliferation and differentiation of intimal cells and fibroblasts to thicken the membrane and produce normal synovial fluid within the joint to counteract inflammatory mediators such as cytokines.”
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