Damaged knee cartilage can progress to osteoarthritis and, in the end, a joint replacement. Askel Healthcare, a Finnish company built on more than ten years of orthopaedic and tissue engineering research at the University of Helsinki and Tampere University, developed COPLA, a biodegradable implant that repairs cartilage and the bone beneath it in a single operation and lets patients put full weight on the leg straight away.

The European Innovation Council granted €2,499,000 towards a €3.57 million project that ran the first human trial. Twenty patients were treated with no implant-related complications reported. The pivotal trial of up to 250 patients, needed for approval in Europe and the US, had not been registered on ClinicalTrials.gov by September 2026, and in 2025 Askel turned to crowdfunding for a second time.

€2.50MEIC grant, 70% of a €3.57M project
20Patients in the first-in-human trial
250Patients planned for the pivotal trial
2028Target for market launch, per 2023 company plan

Company file

Legal entity
Askel Healthcare Oy, business ID 2818058-4, Tampere, Finland
Registered
February 2017
Founders
Virpi Muhonen (CEO), Anne-Marie Haaparanta (CTO)
Product
COPLA biodegradable cartilage and bone implant for the knee
Regulatory
FDA Breakthrough Device Designation (2021); no CE mark or FDA approval
Trials
Pilot trial NCT05685316, 20 patients, Finland, Estonia, Sweden
EIC project
RePace, 1 Jan 2022 to 30 Jun 2024, closed
EIC funding
Grant first

Where Askel Healthcare Stands Today

Askel's latest investor news is a crowdfunding campaign on Invesdor from 16 September to 6 October 2025, offering new shares at €9.60, to complete the pilot trial, prepare the pivotal study and advance towards EU and US approval. It did not publish the result. On ClinicalTrials.gov, the pilot trial is listed as active but no longer recruiting, with 20 patients enrolled; a search for COPLA finds no second trial. The company's management page still lists the two co-founders as chief executive and chief technology officer.

The Technology: One Operation, Straight Back on the Leg

COPLA is a biodegradable implant, tailored in the operating room in about 15 extra minutes of surgery, that fills the defect in cartilage and bone. Askel pitches it as a one-step treatment that lets patients use the leg immediately, without the prolonged immobilisation it says other treatments need. The US Food and Drug Administration gave it a Breakthrough Device Designation in September 2021, which speeds up review but is not an approval.

"Our human clinical trial has already delivered excellent results, with patients regaining function fast and sustaining their improvement."

Virpi Muhonen, CEO, Askel Healthcare, September 2025

What the EIC Project Promised, and What CORDIS Shows

RePace ran from January 2022 to June 2024. The first-in-human trial started in December 2022 at hospitals in Finland and Estonia, according to Askel, and the trial registry also lists a site in Sweden. In June 2024 the company reported six-month results for the first 10 patients: "no implant-related complications", full weight-bearing after surgery and a return to pre-injury activity within six weeks to three months. The CORDIS report confirms the pilot showed safety and lists what is still needed: "Securing funding for the Pivotal Trial and early commercialization" and "gaining marketing authorization in Europe and the US". It said recruitment for the pivotal trial was set to start in 2025.

  1. First-in-human safetyDelivered20 patients; no implant complications reported.
  2. A granted patentDeliveredAnnounced April 2024.
  3. Pivotal trialNot shownPlanned for 2025; not registered.
  4. CE mark and FDA approvalNot yetTarget market launch 2028.

What Has Happened Since the Award

The Money

The award was "grant first", and we found no EIC Fund investment. In May 2023 Askel set out to raise €5 million through the crowdfunding platforms Invesdor and Oneplanetcrowd at €8.10 a share. In September 2025 it went back to Invesdor at €9.60 a share. It has published the outcome of neither round, and no venture capital investment.

What cannot be checked

How much the two crowdfunding rounds raised, whether the pivotal trial has started, and the full 20-patient results are not public. The CORDIS report itself names funding for the pivotal trial as the first open need.

Why Europe Should Care

Askel's 2023 fundraising put the global knee cartilage repair market at €3 billion. A European implant with a US breakthrough designation, built on Finnish university research, is the kind of deep-tech medical device the EIC was set up to fund. The public record does not yet show how its approval trial will be paid for.

What the project promised

A one-step implant that rebuilds the joint surface, taken through its first human trial towards approval.

What the record shows

A safe 20-patient pilot and a granted patent; no pivotal trial registered two years after the project ended.

The Verdict

First step done, the big one not started

The EIC money got COPLA into patients, and the early results the company reports are good. But the project's own report named funding for the pivotal trial as the next hurdle, and the public record shows Askel crowdfunding, not a registered pivotal trial. Its 2028 launch target depends on it.

Askel Healthcare has not been asked for comment for this article. It is based entirely on company statements, EU project data and the trial registry, linked throughout.

Sources

  1. CORDIS, RePace fact sheet and results
  2. ClinicalTrials.gov, NCT05685316
  3. Askel Healthcare, crowdfunding on Invesdor, September 2025
  4. Askel Healthcare, first trial results, June 2024
  5. Askel Healthcare, €5M raise, May 2023
  6. Askel Healthcare, FDA Breakthrough Device Designation, 2021
  7. Askel Healthcare, patent granted, April 2024