Tracy Porter, the football legend notorious for sealing the New Orleans Saints' Super Bowl win in 2010, struggled with persistent knee pain for several seasons.

A first-in-human phase I clinical trial in which neural stem cells were transplanted into chronic spinal cord injury patients produced improved motor and sensory function in three of four subjects with no adverse effects, according to results published in Cell Stem Cell.

While working in a burn unit at Baltimore-based John Hopkins University School of Medicine, PolarityTE founders Ned Swanson, MD, and Denver Lough, MD, PhD, grappled with the limited treatment options for patients. Inspired to provide new methods, they left their plastic surgery residency program and launched a portfolio of regenerative products.

LifeVault Bio's GoodCell kit allows customers to bank their stem cells for future use, STAT reports, but not all stem cell researchers are on board.

Global asset manager Fidelity International invested $5.2 million in Cynata Therapeutics, an Australian stem cell and regenerative medicine company, Business Insider Australia reports.

The global spine biologics market is forecasted to grow at a compound annual growth rate of 4.09 percent between 2018 and 2022, according to a Technavio report.

DiscGenics principal investigator Domagoj Coric, MD, of Carolina Neurosurgery and Spine Associates in Charlotte, N.C., treated the first patient in the phase 1/phase 2 clinical trial of IDCT.

Organogenesis is a regenerative medicine company based in Canton, Mass., focused on developing products for the wound care, surgical and sports medicine markets.

Treating knee arthritis with NASHA (durolane hyaluronic acid) is a safe and effective procedure, according to a study in Open Access Rheumatology: Research and Reviews.

Here are the 14 major players in the global spine biologics market, according to an E Market Research report.

Mikkel O. Andersen, MD, of Middelfart Hospital in Denmark, reported results from the IVANOS study investigating Cerapedics' i-FACTOR Peptide Enhanced Bone Graft.

Burst Biologics, based in Boise, Idaho, is a regenerative medicine company.

Orthopedic surgeons continue to express concerns over various stem cell treatments being offered to patients, according to Contact7.

Insurers will not usually pay for unproven stem cell treatments, so patients seeking those interventions must pay out-of-pocket or use social media to receive donations, a practice known as crowdfunding. Medical crowdfunding campaigns may convey misleading messages about stem cell-based interventions, according to a JAMA study.

NuVasive's biologics portfolio includes AttraX Putty.

Osteoarthritis-mesenchymal stem cells may drive cartilage degeneration pathogenesis and should be targeted in osteoarthritis therapy, according to a study in Scientific Reports.

Researchers successfully grafted induced pluripotent stem cell-derived neural precursor cells into the spinal cords of pigs with and without spinal cord injury with only temporary immunosuppression, according to a study in Science Translational Medicine.

The U.S. Department of Justice filed lawsuits to shut down stem cell clinics in Florida and California that marketed unapproved stem cell treatments, the Los Angeles Times reports.

Transplanted human spinal cord-derived neural stem cells may stabilize functioning in amyotrophic lateral sclerosis patients, according to a study in the Annals of Clinical and Translational Neurology.

The global spine biologics market will likely grow at a compound annual growth rate of 4.5 percent between 2018 and 2023, based on a Market.biz report, according to Business News.