A Phase 3 interventional study of IDCT (rebonuputemcel) and Sham (No Treatment) in Degenerative Disc Disease, sponsored by DiscGenics, Inc.. Recruiting at 31 sites in United States. Open to participants aged 18 Years to 75 Years. Per ClinicalTrials.gov, last updated 2026-10-15.
Sponsored by DiscGenics, Inc. · Phase 3, Interventional, and Treatment
This is a Phase III, randomized, double-blinded, Sham-controlled, multi-center study in subjects with single-level, symptomatic lumbar (L3- S1) intervertebral disc degeneration. The study will have a 52-week primary period followed by 52 week Follow-up Period (total of 104 weeks).
The study protocol will be approved by the Institutional Review Board (IRB) or Independent Ethics Committee (IEC), and the study will be conducted in accordance with Good Clinical Practice (GCP). All subjects will provide written informed consent prior to Screening.
Approximately 162 subjects will be enrolled in the study. Up to 45 days prior to treatment, subjects will be screened for study inclusion, which includes obtaining baseline MRI and X-ray imaging. Imaging results for subjects initially eligible for study participation will be sent to a central imaging vendor for review and confirmation of eligibility, including the number of levels with degeneration. Subjects meeting all inclusion/exclusion criteria will be assigned to the corresponding treatment arm group and subsequently randomized to IDCT or Sham.
Randomization will occur approximately 7 to 14 days prior to the scheduled treatment administration date.
Overall, 162 subjects will be enrolled and randomized to IDCT or Sham in a 2:1 ratio.
Adult subjects with a diagnosis of single-level, mild to moderate, symptomatic lumbar (L3-S1) intervertebral disc degeneration that give consent and meet all the inclusion criteria and none of the exclusion criteria will be enrolled in this study. The disease, single-level disc will be known as the 'target disc' and will be either L3/L4, L4/L5, or L5/S1.
462 studies on the registry are indexed under Intervertebral Disc Degeneration; 100 are open to participants now.
This study's planned enrollment of 162 is above the median of 60 across 256 interventional studies indexed under Intervertebral Disc Degeneration.
Browse Intervertebral Disc Degeneration studies →DiscGenics, Inc. is the lead sponsor of 3 studies on the registry; 1 is open to participants now.
Counted across the registry records on this site, refreshed daily.
Go through the criteria one by one — yes, no or not sure — and take the list to your doctor or the study team. Kept in this browser only.
Exclusion Criteria:
Physical/ Medical History Exclusion Criteria
31. Is currently taking anticoagulant, antiplatelet, or thrombolytic medications (except for aspirin or nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs [NSAIDS]) and at the Investigator's medical discernment and discretion is unable to withhold medications for the time required per site standard or care, prior to the IDCT injection or is taking antineoplastic medications.
32. Is at higher risk for post-surgical infection (e.g., taking ), has a severe infection or a history of serious infection.
33. Has concomitant conditions requiring daily oral steroid usage for more than 30 days in the preceding 90 days before Screening.
34. Is taking opioids greater than 20 MME per day on an intermittent (as needed) basis OR is taking 20 MME or greater daily for more than 3 months prior to Screening
35. Has a history of unexplained, easy, or persistent bruising or bleeding, bleeding from the gums, or bleeding problems experienced in previous surgical procedures.
36. Has a history of or anaphylactic reaction to bovine products, sodium hyaluronate/ hyaluronan/ hyaluronic acid, gentamicin, amphotericin b, dimethyl sulfoxide (DMSO), crustaceous/ shellfish, or porcine products.
37. Has an uncontrolled psychiatric condition or substance/alcohol abuse that would potentially interfere with the subject's participation in the study within 2 years prior to Screening in the opinion of the Investigator.
38. Has positive serum pregnancy test or nursing at time of Screening or has plans to become pregnant within the planned length of the study (2 years).
39. Has a body habitus that precludes adequate fluoroscopic visualization for the procedure or the procedure is physically impossible.
40. Has or requires an implantable electronic defibrillator, pacemaker, or has other to MRI scanning or cannot tolerate MRI scanning. Subjects who are expected to require a defibrillator or pacemaker, as determined by the Investigator should be excluded.
41. Has participated in another clinical study within the 6 months prior to Screening.
42. Has been a recipient or plans to be a recipient during trial participation of stem cell product to treat the lumbar spine.
43. Has participated in a prior IDCT clinical study.
44. Has pending litigation against a health care professional, except where required by the insurer as a condition of coverage.
45. A person who would not be available for the entire planned length of the trial.
46. Has active or pending worker's compensation claims. 47. In the Investigators opinion, the subject is not suitable for participation in the clinical trial.
Imaging Exclusion Criteria:
48. Three discs (L3-S1) that have a Modified Pfirrmann Grade 4-7.
49. Has evidence of prior lumbar vertebral body fracture at L3-S1.
50. Has scoliosis with curvature > 10 degrees.
51. Has congenital spinal irregularities such as segmentation.
52. Has an acute fracture of the spine at the time of enrollment in the study. Clinically compromised vertebral bodies within L3-S1 due to current or past trauma, e.g., sustained pathological fracture or multiple fractures of vertebrae.
53. Has evidence of dynamic instability on lumbar flexion extension per screening radiographs as indicated by >4.5 mm of translational motion at L3-S1; >15° of angular motion at L3/-L4; >20° of angular motion at L4-L/5; or >25° angular motion at L5/-S1.
54. Has Grade 2 or higher spondylolisthesis at L3-S1, as assessed by Meyerding classification.
55. Has lumbar spondylitis or other undifferentiated spondyloarthropathy.
56. Has Modic Type III Changes at L3-S1.
57. Has radiographic evidence or suspicion of a full thickness annular tear at L3-S1.
58. Has evidence of abnormal disc morphology defined as an extrusion or sequestration according to Fardon classification at L3- S1.
59. Has herniation > 3 mm in AP dimension that is associated with nerve root compression.
Underlined terms in the criteria open these too. Explained by clinicaltrials.gg, not part of the registry record. The study team decides who can take part.
Weight in kilograms divided by height in metres squared. Example: 70 kg and 1.75 m gives 70 ÷ (1.75 × 1.75) ≈ 22.9.
What counts as overweight or obesity differs between countries (some use lower cut-offs), so go by the range the study states.
Before you join, the study team explains what taking part involves — its purpose, what happens, the risks and possible benefits — and answers your questions, so you can decide freely. Consent is usually recorded on a form (the informed consent form, ICF) signed by you or, where the law allows, by someone legally authorised to decide for you.
You can keep asking questions during the study, you are told of new information that matters, and you can choose to leave at any time.
Able to become pregnant: from the first period until menopause, unless permanently unable to through surgery (removal of the womb, or of both ovaries or both fallopian tubes).
Criteria for people of childbearing potential usually ask for a negative pregnancy test and for contraception during the study and for a time after it.
Ways of preventing pregnancy. “Highly effective” methods fail less than 1% of the time a year when used correctly — for example an IUD or an implant.
Criteria usually say which methods count and how long to keep using them after the last dose, sometimes for male participants too. Some studies accept a partner’s vasectomy if it was confirmed successful and that person is the participant’s only sexual partner.
Anti-inflammatory medicines such as prednisone, prednisolone and dexamethasone — not the anabolic steroids used for muscle.
Studies differ in what they allow: check which steroid medicines, routes (tablets, injections, creams, inhalers, eye drops) and doses this study accepts.
Hepatitis B is a virus that infects the liver. These are separate tests: HBsAg positive usually means a current infection (a recent vaccination can briefly cause it too); total anti-HBc (HBcAb) positive means an infection now or in the past; HBV DNA measures how much virus is in the blood.
Some studies accept a past infection if HBV DNA is undetectable, sometimes with antiviral medicine during the study. Check what this study allows.
Hepatitis C is a virus that infects the liver. An HCV antibody test can stay positive after an infection has cleared (and is occasionally positive without one); an HCV RNA test shows whether the virus is there now.
After treatment, hepatitis C counts as cured when HCV RNA is still undetectable 12 weeks or more after the treatment ended. Studies often accept people cured this way.
The human immunodeficiency virus, which weakens the immune system.
Many studies now accept people whose HIV is controlled on treatment, judged by the viral load and the CD4 count. Check the limits this study sets.
Malignancy means cancer. Criteria about another or earlier malignancy ask whether you have had a different cancer, usually within a set number of years.
Some are commonly allowed, such as treated skin cancers other than melanoma and early cancers removed completely — check the exceptions this study lists.
A condition in which the immune system attacks the body’s own tissues, such as rheumatoid arthritis, lupus, psoriasis, type 1 diabetes or inflammatory bowel disease.
Immunotherapy studies often leave out active autoimmune disease, and some name exceptions, such as thyroid disease on replacement hormone. Check the exceptions this study lists.
A weakened immune system. It can come from an illness, such as HIV or some blood cancers, or from medicines that turn the immune system down, for example after an organ transplant or for an autoimmune disease; steroids at higher doses count.
Read whether the line is about a condition or about medicines, and which medicines and doses it means.
An allergy, or another reaction of the immune system, to a substance. “Hypersensitivity to the study drug” means a known allergic reaction to it — not every side effect a medicine can have.
A reason a treatment, test or procedure should not be given to a particular person, such as an allergy, another illness or a medicine they take.
BMI (body mass index)
Weight in kilograms divided by height in metres squared. Example: 70 kg and 1.75 m gives 70 ÷ (1.75 × 1.75) ≈ 22.9.
What counts as overweight or obesity differs between countries (some use lower cut-offs), so go by the range the study states.
Explained by clinicaltrials.gg, not part of the registry record. The study team decides who can take part.
Informed consent
Before you join, the study team explains what taking part involves — its purpose, what happens, the risks and possible benefits — and answers your questions, so you can decide freely. Consent is usually recorded on a form (the informed consent form, ICF) signed by you or, where the law allows, by someone legally authorised to decide for you.
You can keep asking questions during the study, you are told of new information that matters, and you can choose to leave at any time.
Explained by clinicaltrials.gg, not part of the registry record. The study team decides who can take part.
Childbearing potential
Able to become pregnant: from the first period until menopause, unless permanently unable to through surgery (removal of the womb, or of both ovaries or both fallopian tubes).
Criteria for people of childbearing potential usually ask for a negative pregnancy test and for contraception during the study and for a time after it.
Explained by clinicaltrials.gg, not part of the registry record. The study team decides who can take part.
Contraception
Ways of preventing pregnancy. “Highly effective” methods fail less than 1% of the time a year when used correctly — for example an IUD or an implant.
Criteria usually say which methods count and how long to keep using them after the last dose, sometimes for male participants too. Some studies accept a partner’s vasectomy if it was confirmed successful and that person is the participant’s only sexual partner.
Explained by clinicaltrials.gg, not part of the registry record. The study team decides who can take part.
Corticosteroids (steroids)
Anti-inflammatory medicines such as prednisone, prednisolone and dexamethasone — not the anabolic steroids used for muscle.
Studies differ in what they allow: check which steroid medicines, routes (tablets, injections, creams, inhalers, eye drops) and doses this study accepts.
Explained by clinicaltrials.gg, not part of the registry record. The study team decides who can take part.
Hepatitis B tests
Hepatitis B is a virus that infects the liver. These are separate tests: HBsAg positive usually means a current infection (a recent vaccination can briefly cause it too); total anti-HBc (HBcAb) positive means an infection now or in the past; HBV DNA measures how much virus is in the blood.
Some studies accept a past infection if HBV DNA is undetectable, sometimes with antiviral medicine during the study. Check what this study allows.
Explained by clinicaltrials.gg, not part of the registry record. The study team decides who can take part.
Hepatitis C tests
Hepatitis C is a virus that infects the liver. An HCV antibody test can stay positive after an infection has cleared (and is occasionally positive without one); an HCV RNA test shows whether the virus is there now.
After treatment, hepatitis C counts as cured when HCV RNA is still undetectable 12 weeks or more after the treatment ended. Studies often accept people cured this way.
Explained by clinicaltrials.gg, not part of the registry record. The study team decides who can take part.
HIV
The human immunodeficiency virus, which weakens the immune system.
Many studies now accept people whose HIV is controlled on treatment, judged by the viral load and the CD4 count. Check the limits this study sets.
Explained by clinicaltrials.gg, not part of the registry record. The study team decides who can take part.
Cancer (malignancy)
Malignancy means cancer. Criteria about another or earlier malignancy ask whether you have had a different cancer, usually within a set number of years.
Some are commonly allowed, such as treated skin cancers other than melanoma and early cancers removed completely — check the exceptions this study lists.
Explained by clinicaltrials.gg, not part of the registry record. The study team decides who can take part.
Autoimmune disease
A condition in which the immune system attacks the body’s own tissues, such as rheumatoid arthritis, lupus, psoriasis, type 1 diabetes or inflammatory bowel disease.
Immunotherapy studies often leave out active autoimmune disease, and some name exceptions, such as thyroid disease on replacement hormone. Check the exceptions this study lists.
Explained by clinicaltrials.gg, not part of the registry record. The study team decides who can take part.
Immunosuppression
A weakened immune system. It can come from an illness, such as HIV or some blood cancers, or from medicines that turn the immune system down, for example after an organ transplant or for an autoimmune disease; steroids at higher doses count.
Read whether the line is about a condition or about medicines, and which medicines and doses it means.
Explained by clinicaltrials.gg, not part of the registry record. The study team decides who can take part.
Hypersensitivity
An allergy, or another reaction of the immune system, to a substance. “Hypersensitivity to the study drug” means a known allergic reaction to it — not every side effect a medicine can have.
Explained by clinicaltrials.gg, not part of the registry record. The study team decides who can take part.
Contraindication
A reason a treatment, test or procedure should not be given to a particular person, such as an allergy, another illness or a medicine they take.
Explained by clinicaltrials.gg, not part of the registry record. The study team decides who can take part.
1 mL intradiscal injection of 9,000,000 cells/mL
Biological: IDCT (rebonuputemcel)
Needle insertion up to the annulus of a single target disc.
Other: Sham (No Treatment)
Single intradiscal injection of 1 mL of 9,000,000 cells/mL IDCT in a single target disc.
Single Sham needle insertion up to the annulus of a single target disc.
Visual Analogue Scale (VAS) for low back pain
VAS is a sliding visual scale of 0 being "no pain" and 100 being "worst pain Imaginable' to assess changesfrom baseline in low back pain compared to Sham
Time frame: Week 52
Oswestry Disability Index (ODI)
ODI is a 10-item questionnaire used to measure functional disability in people with low back pain. It is a self-administered tool that assesses how back pain affects daily activities like walking, sleeping, and personal hygiene, with scores ranging from 0% (no disability) to 100% (maximum disability).
Time frame: Week 52
Adverse Events
Incidence of grade 2 (moderate) or greater AEs and SAEs
Time frame: Day 1 to Week 52 in each treatment group.
Adverse events of special interest
Incidence of Adverse Events of Special Interest (AESI) to include any symptomatic injury of the target disc including annular tear, disc herniation/extrusion/prolapse as well as discitis.
Time frame: Day 1 to Week 52 in each treatment group
Visual Analogue Scale (VAS)
VAS is a sliding visual scale of 0 being "no pain" and 100 being "worst pain Imaginable' to assess changes from baseline in low back pain
Time frame: Week 4, 12 and 26, 78 and 104
Oswestry Disability Index (ODI)
ODI is a 10-item questionnaire used to measure functional disability in people with low back pain. It is a self-administered tool that assesses how back pain affects daily activities like walking, sleeping, and personal hygiene, with scores ranging from 0% (no disability) to 100% (maximum disability).
Time frame: Week 4, 12 and 26, 78 and 105
EQ-5D
EQ-5D is a validated too consisting of a set of questions covering five dimensions, with each dimension having a different severity level. 1. Mobility: Ranging from "no problems walking about" to "confined to bed". Self-care: Ranging from "no problems with self-care" to "unable to wash or dress myself". 2. Usual activities: Ranging from "no problems doing my usual activities" to "unable to do my usual activities" (e.g., work, study, housework). 3. Pain/discomfort: Ranging from "no pain or discomfort" to "extreme pain or discomfort". 4. Anxiety/depression: Ranging from "not anxious or depressed" to "extremely anxious or depressed". 5. Visual Analog Scale (EQ VAS): A scale (typically 0-100) where respondents mark their overall health from "worst imaginable" to "best imaginable".
Time frame: Enrollment through Week 104
Disc Volume
MRI assessment of Disc Volume though Week 104
Time frame: Day 1 to Week 104
Pain Medication Use
Concomitant pain medication use for low back pain related to the target disc
Time frame: Enrollment to Week 104
Concomitant Therapy
Concomitant medical therapy for low back pain (physical therapy, acupuncture, chiropractic manipulation, massage, and at-home, medically supervised exercise program etc.) use for low back pain
Time frame: Enrollment to Week 104
Treatment Failure Rate
Treatment failure rate (defined as an invasive non-surgical or surgical intervention) directly related to the target disc.
Time frame: Enrollment to week 104
Adverse Events
The incidence of grade 2 (moderate) or greater AEs and SAEs
Time frame: Enrollment to Week 104
Adverse Events of Special Interest (AESI)
The incidence of Adverse Events of Special Interest (AESI) observed defined as any one of the followings symptomatic injury of the target disc including annular tear, disc, herniation/extrusion/prolapse or any case of discitis.
Time frame: Enrollment to Week 104
MRI Based evaluations
MRI Evaluation of the lumbar spine will be reported as an aggregate in one report to assess of disc height, Modified Pfirrmann grade, Modic changes, annular tears/fissures, endplate integrity, herniation, and any additional noteworthy observations at 12, 26, 52, 78, and 104.
Time frame: Enrollment through Week 104
X-ray evaluation of the lumbar spine
X-ray evaluation of flexion/extension will be assessed and measure in degrees of angles.
Time frame: Screening through Week 104
Not enrolling at this site — choose another above.
Plan to share: Undecided
No publications or documents are linked to this record.
Started Dec 2025 (actual). Primary completion is estimated for Nov 2027, 23 months after the start.
How these figures are worked out, and which studies are left out of them.
From the registry record's own update history. This site started tracking changes on Sep 25, 2026; for anything earlier, see the record history on ClinicalTrials.gov ↗
Eligibility is decided by the study team. Share this record with your doctor or contact the team directly.
No contact was published for this record. The registry link below has the sponsor’s details.
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Intervertebral Disc Degeneration →
DiscGenics, Inc.