New Multi-Center Study Shows equicenta® CTM, Ready-to-Use, Equine Umbilical Cord Allograft Outperforms Standard of Care in Returning Performance Horses to Work

A single injection of equicenta® CTM improved lameness, pain, and swelling greater than clinician-selected standard of care and nearly tripled the odds of horses returning to their prior level of performance, according to a study published in Frontiers in Veterinary Science.

AUSTIN, Texas--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Equine Performance Labs (EPL), the team behind equicenta® CTM — announced the publication of a peer-reviewed, prospective, controlled clinical trial demonstrating that a single, ready-to-use injection of equicenta® CTM produced significantly better clinical outcomes than clinician-selected standard of care (SOC) in lame performance horses. The study was accepted June 29, 2026 in Frontiers in Veterinary Science (Veterinary Regenerative Medicine section) and represents one of the most rigorous multi-center evaluations of a regenerative therapy in equine practice to date.

The pragmatic, prospective controlled trial enrolled 138 lame performance horses with 195 conditions of joints, tendons and ligaments, across 8 U.S. equine veterinarian practices, with 135 completing the full 26-week follow-up. Rather than testing equicenta® CTM against a placebo or evaluating equivalency to another product, investigators compared it head-to-head for superiority against the top treatments of choice clinicians, mostly biologics including hemoderivatives — a real-world design that reflects everyday veterinary decision-making. The study was led by Alicia L. Bertone, DVM, PhD, DACVS, Emeritus, The Ohio State University, together with 12 co-authors across nine institutions including Equine Athlete Veterinary Services, Tryon Equine Hospital, Woodland Run Equine Veterinary Facility, Peterson Smith Equine Hospital, Performance Veterinary Equine Services, Austin Equine Hospital, Palm Beach Equine Clinic and Ocala Equine Hospital.

Across every measured clinical outcome, equicenta® CTM outperformed standard of care:

• Greater Recovery: Greater improvement in pain and swelling by 2 weeks, and lameness improvement by 4 weeks.
• Sustained Superiority: All clinical outcomes were significantly better through 12 weeks (p < 0.001).
• Return to Performance: The odds of returning to prior performance level were 2.72:1 in favor of equicenta® CTM (p < 0.006).
• Owner-Reported Well-Being: Client-reported body condition, hair coat, overall health, and quality of life were all significantly better (p < 0.03) with equicenta® CTM.
• Improved Safety Profile: equicenta® CTM was associated with fewer injection-related adverse events than standard of care.
• Objective Confirmation: Kinematic gait analysis confirmed significantly greater improvement in lameness.

These findings are notable because equicenta® CTM delivered these outcomes as a single, ready-to-use injection — no harvesting, culturing, or patient-side processing required. For a profession where treatment choices are often constrained by time, cost, and variability between products, an off-the-shelf allograft with reproducible, peer-reviewed results offers a meaningful advance in how lameness is managed in performance horses.

“This is what we set out to build: a science-first therapy that gives veterinarians and horse owners something they can trust and use with confidence,” said Heather Rogers, CEO, Equine Performance Labs. “equicenta® CTM was designed around the welfare of the horse and the realities of clinical practice. A single ready-to-use injectable that helps more horses get back to doing what they love — backed by peer-reviewed, multi-center trial data — is a defining moment for regenerative medicine in the equine industry.”

Read the full study: https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/veterinary-science/articles/10.3389/fvets.2026.1833933/abstract (DOI: 10.3389/fvets.2026.1833933).

Learn more about EPL: www.equineperformancelabs.com