InVivo Therapeutics' investigational neuro-spinal scaffold is improving the condition of a man who damaged his spinal cord after falling out of a deer stand. Thanks to the implant, he has regained some sensation in his lower body, and may someday be able to walk again. The small implant made of biodegradable plastic fibers is placed in the injured part of the spinal cord with forceps. It supports the surrounding nerve cell and redirects their growth. "You're not just trying to stabilize the spine, but do something helpful directly at the area of the injury," said Dom Coric, chief of neurosurgery at Carolinas Medical Center, where the man was treated. "If we can preserve those cells, maybe we'll get some function back." Two of the three patients who have received the implant are showing signs of progress. The device was created at MIT's Langer Lab, and licensed from the institution by Cambridge, MA-based InVivo Therapeutics in 2007. The neuro-spinal scaffold is under review by the FDA via the agency's Humanitarian Device Exemption (HDE) pathway for devices that treat rare conditions. More