Dr. Denis Dufrane co-founded Novadip in 2013 and joined the company as Chief Scientific Officer in 2015 before being appointed CEO. Prior to joining Novadip on a full-time basis, Dr. Dufrane was head of both the Musculoskeletal Tissue Bank and the Tissue/Cells Therapy Centre at St. Luc University Hospital, Brussels, Belgium. Previous to that, he was head of the Endocrine Cell Therapy Unit.
Dr. Dufrane has been a member of the Belgium Superior Health Council since 2014. He has published more than 50 manuscripts in peer-reviewed journals, presented 40 lectures, and has more than 120 communications with more than 3,000 citations.
SSN: What drove you to choose reconstructive surgery as a career – and tissue regeneration in particular?
DD: I’ve always been fascinated by the capacity of the human body to be able to regenerate. The potential to restore a biological activity by cell or composite tissue transplantation is my main motivation. I wanted to understand the pathophysiology with a view to developing the most appropriate biological response to restore the healing physiology.
Although I initially focused on cell transplantation for diabetes, I was increasingly interested to use the adipose stem cells in the tissue healing and more specifically bone, skin and muscle regeneration. My interest for large bone reconstruction arose from a clinical demand after large tumor resections or large bone defects in acquired or congenital fractures. I was intrigued by developing a three-dimensional graft derived from adipose stem cells and using the bone healing mechanism ex vivo.
SSN: Novadip recently announced several positive developments and results from its two lead programmes in bone and tissue regenerative medicine. Could you tell us more about the results?
DD: We recently achieved significant clinical milestones for both of our bone products. Our autologous cell-based product, NVD003, demonstrated a long term (up to 5-7 years) follow-up efficacy and safety in adults and young patients with severe large bone defects who didn’t have any real alternatives except for amputation.
We demonstrated that no refracture was observed up to seven years after using our product. NVD003 can be considered as a Single Treatment Cure. Now, we’re ready to start two phase 3 trials in the USA and EU, for both paediatric and adult patients with critical size bone defects. Our goal is to be on the market with NVD003 in the congenital pseudarthrosis of the tibia in 2027.
In parallel, our allogenic cell-derived product NVDX3 demonstrated the full safety at one year in radius fractures and spine fusion. An IND was granted by the FDA to start a Phase 2b/3 trial in multi-level cervical spine fusion.
SSN: What could your findings mean to help support trauma surgery and what will be the effect on patient experience and their long-lasting bone healing?
DD: Novadip is proposing the first true osteobiologics platform to cure large and small bone defects in adult and paediatric patients. Developing single treatment cures, this platform will highly reduce the risk of a second surgery for patients.
SSN: Do you have any more research in the pipeline?
DD: We’re also investigating our 3D scaffold-free platform to produce unique therapeutics in oncology, for sarcoma treatment, and skin healing.
SSN: How does the future look within bone and tissue regeneration?
DD: Since we’ll be confronted with an ageing population and the associated comorbidities factors affecting the capacity of tissue healing, new biologics will be needed to improve the capacity of the body to heal damaged tissue. In this context, the field of tissue regeneration will shift with more bioactive products claiming a pharmacological activity.
SSN: What’s the best part of your job?
DD: Developing new therapeutics for patients and the daily challenge to transform an idea into a reality.
SSN: … and the worst?
DD: There is no worst part of my job. I know that I need to be resilient to face difficult situations and be solution oriented.
SSN: What has been the highlight of your career so far?
DD: I never consider the past as an achievement; I’m only focusing on the future. For me the next step will always be the best moment of my career.
SSN: Are you planning to attend or speak at any medical conferences or events in 2025-26?
DD: Our VP Discovery is currently at the EORS (European Orthopaedic Research Society) at Davos, Switzerland, for a presentation of our 3D scaffold-free technology platform.
SSN: How do you think the future looks within the field of orthopaedic surgery and treatments and what are your predictions for 2025 and the next decade?
DD: The orthopaedic field will be faced with an ageing population and therefore a higher risk of bone non-consolidation in older patients. In this context, biological products and personalized medicine will have a significant place in the field, with some control on the pricing for a better and wider acceptability.
Image: Submitted by author
