Healing isn’t just about fixing what’s broken. It’s about rebuilding strength, restoring movement, and helping patients return to life quickly.
Orthopedic regenerative medicine is leading that shift, moving orthopedic joint care beyond managing symptoms to creating true biological repairs. By working with the body’s own healing processes, today’s technologies are accelerating recovery, improving outcomes, and setting new standards for orthopedic innovation.
From scaffolds to regenerative devices and injections like PRP, the field is changing fast, and we are at the forefront.
What Is Orthopedic Regenerative Medicine?
Regenerative medicine focuses on restoring damaged tissues by using the body’s own biological systems. In orthopedics, this approach includes:
- Tissue Engineering and Biomaterials: Creating functional tissue outside of the body or creating scaffolds that guide the body’s healing response.
- A scaffold is like a healing patch for your body. It’s typically placed where cartilage or tendons have been damaged, and provides your body with the support it needs to grow new, healthy tissue. Think of it like a little structure that helps guide the healing process. Over time, your body naturally takes over and the scaffold fades away or resorbs either fully or partially.
- Cellular Therapies: Using the body’s own cells to repair injured tissues.
- Other Medical Devices and Advanced Materials: Supporting biological healing while providing structural strength.
These solutions are designed to promote tissue repair, reduce inflammation, and support a rapid return to movement — transforming how orthopedic conditions are treated.
Scaffolds for Tissue Regeneration
Tissue engineering focuses on ways to create functional tissue, whether outside of the body or with innovative solutions to use in the body.
At Anika, we’re developing biologically compatible scaffolds that direct and enhance the body’s natural healing response. These scaffolds provide the structure cells need to regenerate new tissue at the site of injury.
Two key innovations in this space are:
- Integrity™ Implant: A proprietary hyaluronic acid-based scaffold designed to support natural tendon healing in rotator cuff repair. Integrity works with the body’s biology, encouraging native tissue regeneration without animal-derived materials. Integrity is a partially resorbable scaffold that supports regenerative healing.
- Hyalofast®: A single-stage, hyaluronic acid-based cartilage repair scaffold designed to promote cartilage healing. Hyalofast provides a fully resorbable matrix for cellular attachment, supporting the growth of hyaline-like cartilage without requiring multiple surgical procedures.
By guiding cellular activity to support the body’s natural healing process, these scaffolds are redefining how orthopedic injuries are repaired.
Biologically Active Platforms Supporting Cellular Healing
Cellular therapies aim to restore function by using the body’s own cells to repair damaged tissue. Common examples include Platelet-Rich Plasma (PRP) or Bone Marrow Aspirate Concentrate (BMAC).
While traditional cell harvesting and injection is one approach, regenerative solutions like Hyalofast are designed to work seamlessly within the body’s natural environment.
Hyalofast provides a structure for the stem cells from BMAC to move, attach, and grow, promoting cartilage healing through the body’s own biological processes. As new cartilage and tissue grows, Hyalofast degrades into hyaluronic acid, which further promotes a healing environment. This biologically active approach helps improve outcomes while simplifying the surgical experience.
As regenerative research evolves, combining cellular therapies with scaffold-based solutions is opening new possibilities for orthopedic repair.
Regenerative Devices Enhancing Bone Healing
Regenerative medicine extends beyond scaffolds to devices that actively promote restoratioin and healing in bone. Orthopedic devices today are designed not just to stabilize, but to elevate the healing process.
Tactoset® demonstrates this innovation.
- Tactoset® is an injectable, hyaluronic acid-enhanced calcium phosphate bone substitute material that fills bone defects and remodels into healthy bone over time.
- It also augments surgical hardware, providing significant increases in fixation strength when used with suture anchors.
By integrating regenerative materials directly into surgical workflows, Tactoset enhances biological repair while delivering stronger mechanical support where it’s needed most.
Advancing the Future of Orthopedic Regeneration
Regenerative medicine is redefining what’s possible in orthopedic care — moving beyond repair to true biological restoration. As innovation accelerates, the demand for smarter, stronger, and more biologically integrated solutions is only growing.
Through a relentless focus on regenerative science and breakthrough technologies, the commitment is clear: deliver solutions that not only heal — but rebuild strength, restore movement, and reshape outcomes for patients everywhere.