Severance Hospital Begins Stem Cell Clinical Trial for Knee Osteoarthritis

Selected for Ministry of Health Advanced Regenerative Medicine Project
Multi-center Clinical Trial for 165 Patients
Efficacy of Autologous Adipose-derived Stem Cells to Be Verified

Severance Hospital announced on July 24 that it has been selected for the "2026 2nd Advanced Regenerative Medicine Clinical Research Activation Support Project," overseen by the Regenerative Medicine Promotion Foundation under the Ministry of Health and Welfare.

Yonsei Medical Center exterior. Yonsei Medical Center

As the lead institution, Severance Hospital will conduct a multi-center clinical study together with Seoul National University Hospital and Inha University Hospital to evaluate the efficacy and safety of stem cell therapy for patients with knee osteoarthritis. The study will be overseen by Professor Kim Sunghwan from the Department of Orthopedic Surgery at Yonsei University College of Medicine.

The research team will receive approximately 2.9 billion won in funding over 21 months and plans to recruit 165 patients. Mesenchymal stem cells harvested from each patient's own adipose tissue will be injected into the knee joint cavity to assess improvements in pain and the potential for cartilage regeneration.

The clinical trial will be conducted as a randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled study. Both participants and medical staff will be blinded as to whether the patient is receiving stem cell therapy, in order to objectively verify the treatment's effectiveness.

Professor Kim stated, "We will verify the safety and efficacy of this therapy in order to overcome the limitations of conventional treatments and expand the treatment options available to patients with osteoarthritis."

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