It became known that stell cell technology of Korea’s small hidden company was used in arthritis surgery on Foodball Manager Guus Hiddink.

Hiddink underwent arthritis surgery on his right knee with ‘CARTISTEM^®’, MEDIPOST’s arthritis treatment drug of same type at Seoul JS Hospital on 9 January.

‘CARTISTEM^®’ is a regenerative knee cartilage stem cell treatment drug for patients with degenerative osteoarthritis or osteoarthritis from repeated external injury, and in Korea it obtained KFDA approval in January 2012, surgeries with administration thereof occurring in more than 250 hospital including Samsung Seoul Hospital.

Number of administrations of CARTISTEM^® was on average 20 odd cases per month in the initial stages, but has risen to more than 60 cases recently.

If knee joint is damaged, ultimately artificial joint surgery is required, and if ‘CARTISTEM^®’ is administered, the damaged cells are regenerated.

Hiddink who loves golf other than soccer was recommended to undergo artificial joint surgery in hospital in Europe but it became known that one of the factors in the background to why he came to Korea is that with artificial surgery it will be difficult for him to enjoy golf anymore.

With Hiddink’s surgery, with trust in stem cell treatmet and Korean medical technology increasing, domestic and international demand of ‘CARTISTEM^®’ is anticipated to expand further.

Industry personnel has disclosed that they “anticipate that it will become the catalyst to pioneer the domestic bio/pharmaceutical industry.