Nanochon, a Baltimore-based medical device company, announced on September 2, 2026 that it successfully treated the first patient in the First-in-Human clinical study for Chondrograft™, its 3D-printed implant for knee cartilage repair. The milestone follows the $4.1 million Seed Prime II round Nanochon closed in January, which was earmarked specifically to fund this trial. Co-Founder and CEO Ben Holmes said: “The speed at which Dr. Osorio and the clinical team were able to identify, enroll, and treat the first patient underscores the significant unmet clinical need in cartilage repair. This milestone marks an important step forward for Nanochon as we continue generating the clinical evidence required to support a future Level 1 pivotal study.”
Chondrograft is designed for focal articular cartilage defects of the knee in patients not yet candidates for joint replacement, using what Nanochon calls a “burn-no-bridges” approach: a minimally invasive implant that provides immediate mechanical support without foreclosing future treatment options. The prospective study, now underway at The Panama Clinic in Panamá after Panamá’s Ministry of Health cleared it to begin, is enrolling patients ages 22 to 60 with one or two cartilage lesions on the femoral condyle and/or trochlea who have failed conservative treatment.