01/16/2026
Great explanation from a vet. As osteopath’s we’re not “anti-injections”- I prefer that a horse receives regenerative products over the use of steroids. You can add even more products to this list that she didn’t mention- including exosomes and peptide therapies.
There are three main classes of biologic therapies currently used in equine medicine:
1. Blood-Based Products
These products utilize a horse’s own blood, which is processed in various ways and then administered back to the same horse. They are commonly used to treat joint and soft tissue conditions. Examples include ProStride/PRP, Alpha-2-Macroglobulin (A*M), and IRAP.
2. Amnion-Based Products
Amnion-based products are derived from equine amnion, a portion of the placenta, and are used in recipient horses other than the donor. These products provide anti-inflammatory and regenerative benefits. Examples include RenoVo and AniCell.
3. Stem Cells
Stem cell therapies may be bone marrow–derived or adipose (fat)–derived. We will not focus heavily on these this month, as their use has become less favorable. Newer biologic products are easier to administer, equally or more effective, less expensive, and overall safer.
Most practitioners agree that bone marrow–derived stem cells are more beneficial than fat-derived products. However, both methods require harvesting tissue (bone marrow or fat), followed by laboratory processing to grow and cultivate stem cells for later injection. This process carries inherent risks—particularly with bone marrow taps—and typically requires several weeks to produce a usable product. For many practitioners, these drawbacks often outweigh the potential benefits.
Check back in for our next post, we will go into greater detail on a product we use a lot at Denali Equine - ProStride.