Shares in Orthocell have soared after the tissue regeneration company was granted a patent for its "cell factory" technology in the United States.
Perth-based Orthocell's cell factory is a method of generating tissue-specific growth factors or proteins that act as a trigger or mechanism to repair bone and cartilage damage.
The growth factors could be helpful to people suffering from deteriorating cartilage in the knee or other joints.
The cell factory involves placing cells in a bio-reactor - a machine that grows cells - in a laboratory, and periodically extracting tissue-specific growth factors from fluid surrounding the cells.
Orthocell managing director Paul Anderson says current treatments for tissue injuries have involved only general growth factors extracted from blood or from plasma.
"So rather than just harvesting some blood and trying to take a whole `soup' of stuff from there and hoping that that will be the right target for the right tissue, this is a tissue-specific approach," Mr Anderson said.
"And a cell factory means that we don't have to take blood. We have an ongoing cellular supply.
"All we need is the starting cells, and then we have this factory that can then produce these growth factors over a much longer period of time."
Orthocell shares surged 7.5 cents, or 19 per cent, to close at 47 cents.
Mr Anderson said the US patent, which expires in 2027, covers the method of growing the cells, extracting the growth factors, and putting them through a freeze-drying process to enable them to be injected.
"It's an exciting piece of technology that is going to potentially make these tissue-specific growth factors available on a much more broader scale than they ever have been before," Mr Anderson said.
He said the US patent was important because the US is the world's largest market for tissue repair.
More than 500,000 cartilage surgeries are undertaken in the US each year.
The US patent gives Orthocell a platform from which to further develop its technology, attract investors, raise capital and enter licensing deals.
Mr Anderson said Orthocell is now planning a move into larger animal trials for its tissue regeneration technology and increasing the size of its bio-reactor.
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