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| News in Brief - July 2008 Brief items of the latest industry news... |
| Appointments - July 2008 Stay up to date with the latest changes in personnel... |
| Surgicraft Choose Harvard As Exclusive Distributor - July 2008 Surgicraft Ltd have chosen Harvard Healthcare Ltd as the exclusive distributor for... |
| Orthopaedic Marketing Specialists - July 2008 A new marketing company has been set up by Jason Wilson, specialising in... |
| LDR Begin ROI-A™ Marketing - July 2008 LDR is marketing its ROI-A™ partial vertebral body replacement device... |
| Apatech Succeed In Commercial Fundraising - July 2008 ApaTech has announced the successful completion of a $45m fundraising, which are to... |
| DSM Receive €50m Funding Boost - July 2008 DSM Biomedical will receive funding from the Biomedical Materials Program... |
| Invibio Presents New PEEK Research Data - July 2008 Invibio® Biomaterial Solutions posted original research data at the 8th World... |
| Kuros Recruit First Patient For Tibial Shaft Fracture Study - July 2008 Kuros Biosurgery AG has recruited the first patient into a Phase IIb clinical trial with... |
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Company News In Brief
Surgicraft Choose Harvard As Exclusive Distributor Surgicraft Ltd have chosen Harvard Healthcare Ltd as the exclusive distributor for the Surgilig™ product in England, Scotland and Wales. Surgilig™ is a synthetic ligament used in acromio-clavicular reconstruction to replace the ligament and recreate the anatomy. Designed by Professor Angus Wallace at Nottingham, it is made of double braided polyester with a weave design that acts as a scaffold encouraging tissue in-growth.
Surgilig™ now has over 10 years proven clinical experience in the UK and has more recently entered the international market.
Harvard Healthcare is a newly established company specialising in the distribution of niche products. Harvard Healthcare’s Managing Director, Vaughan Rimmer, said: “having always been associated with gold standard products, we’re all very excited about this new addition to our range. The history of Surgilig™ is excellent. Our commitment is to maintain that standard and develop the system to the next generation of ACJ reconstruction.”
Orthopaedic Marketing Specialists A new marketing company has been set up by Jason Wilson (FormerDePuy, Johnson and Johnson Marketing Manager), specialising in healthcare marketing with a emphasis on Orthopaedics. getmoretime provides a portfolio of marketing tools to companies, hospitals and surgeons, including, Viral Marketing, Digital Technology and Traditional Marketing, along with Promotional material. “Right now there is a surge of interest from patients who want to know which treatments are available to them driven by our ‘information society’, increased expectations, patient demographics, new prostheses and surgical techniques.” “For the manufacturers we can help them present their products using the latest digital marketing techniques; for the hospital we provide a range of educational tools and promotional materials; and for the surgeon we can help them to establish and grow their private practice through a business approach; and all of these elements ultimately help the patient allowing them access to considered information they require.” LDR Begin ROI-A™ Marketing LDR is marketing its ROI-A™ partial vertebral body replacement device following 510(k) clearance from the FDA. The ROI-A™ system incorporates the verteBridge™ anchoring technology. The ROI-A™ is a stand-alone implant system with zero profile, self-locking anchoring plates designed for initial and long-term stability. The surgical technique is a direct anterior approach, with the curved anchoring plates inserted along the sagittal plane, requiring no additional exposure to the vertebral bodies. Christophe Lavigne, CEO of LDR, said, “The entry of the ROI-A™ implant into the U.S. market represents a huge step for us in continuing to provide innovative, surgeon-friendly solutions for varied spinal pathologies. This is really an exciting innovation and we will soon be introducing other products that incorporate our verteBRIDGE™ anchoring technology.” Since launching the ROI-A™ more than 75 procedures have been performed with extremely positive feedback from the surgeons. Apatech Succeed In Commercial Fundraising ApaTech has announced the successful completion of a $45m fundraising, which are to be invested in additional commercial resources, further clinical and new product development and a significant expansion of manufacturing capacity. CEO Simon Cartmell said: “These funds allow us to continue the successful development of ApaTech into a world leading orthobiologics company. We see significant potential in Actifuse and the portfolio of new technologies we are developing and I am delighted we have been able to secure investment from, and involvement of, two world class financial institutions who clearly share our vision of the future.” As a result of the investment from 3i plc and HealthCor, the Board of Directors will change significantly. Peter Chambré becomes Non-Executive Chairman, with Dr Nigel Pitchford and Michael Mashaal, MD joining the Board as investor directors on behalf of 3i plc and HealthCor respectively. Following on from the investment, ApaTech has signed an 11.5 year lease on two buildings at Centennial Park, Elstree, for a total of 32,000 square feet of office, manufacturing and development activities. Adjacent to the Company’s current location the new buildings provide a four fold increase in manufacturing capacity, equivalent to sales of $100-125m and office accommodation for an additional 45 UK-based staff. Planning permission has been received for the $13m development and preparatory work to fit out the new facility has been initiated. Office occupancy is planned for January 2009, with manufacturing for sale intended from August 2009. Simon Cartmell said “The Elstree site is an excellent location for ApaTech and we are all looking forward to moving into the new facility which will be a world class manufacturing and corporate headquarters, reflecting the Company’s values and ambitions”. Apatech have also announced a number of appointments, (see below) DSM Receive €50m Funding Boost DSM Biomedical will receive funding from the Biomedical Materials Program (BMM), a Dutch public-private partnership in biomedical materials. In total, BMM allocated over €50m to seven R&D projects, four of which were initiated by DSM Biomedical. The funding will help DSM to expand its R&D portfolio and accelerate the development time of new biomedical materials, contributing to the realisation of DSM’s ambition to become a leading player in the biomedical market.
DSM received funding for its participation in NANTICO and IDiDAS. The NANTICO project focuses on the development of medical coating technologies for the prevention of implant-associated infections. The target for the IDiDAS project is the treatment of intervertebral disc degeneration - the major cause of chronic low back pain - via drug delivery and smart polymer implants.
The approval of these two projects by BMM yields an expansion of the DSM Biomedical R&D department in Limburg, the Netherlands, with at least eight new scientists for which the recruiting process will start immediately. Actual start of the projects is anticipated in begin later this year.
Steve Hartig, President DSM Biomedical, said: “Open innovation is an important area for DSM Biomedical. By joining forces with industrial and academic partners, we will be able to significantly speed up the development of better biomedical materials for caregivers. The funding we received today shows the recognition for the quality of the projects we are working on.”
Invibio Presents New PEEK Research Data Invibio® Biomaterial Solutions posted original research data at the 8th World Biomaterials Congress in Amsterdam, The Netherlands. Invibio presented two posters exploring preliminary evaluations of new forms of PEEK-OPTIMA (porous and fiber) that may enhance tissue interaction and integration, which were conducted in collaboration with the School of Chemical, Biological, and Materials Engineering, University of Oklahoma. Invibio also hosted two Congress forums, ‘Biomaterial Surface Interactions and the Versatility of PEEK’ and ‘The Tribology of PEEK Polymer: Promising Results for Bearing Applications.’ Presenters at the forums included Prof. Geoff Richards (AO Research Institute), Dr. Susan Scholes, Ph.D (Durham University) and Dr. Steven M. Kurtz (Drexel University). Every four years, WBC addresses clinical and medical development and application trends and issues across the global materials science, bioengineering, biotechnology and tissue engineering continuum; this year, 2,300+ scientists, medical professionals and manufacturers from the medical device and pharmaceutical industries attended. Topics included: wear performance of PEEK-OPTIMA materials in screening tests and in spinal and knee arthroplasty; laser welding of PEEK-OPTIMA for medical devices; polymer solutions for radiology treatment improvements; tensile fracture behaviour in the presence of a Notch Riser; PEEK vs. titanium potential for bone formation of human primary osteoblasts; surface modification of PEEK using oxygen plasma treatment to aid cell growth response; and effects of hydroxyapatite coatings on PEEK and carbon fiber-reinforced PEEK properties. Invibio president Michael Callahan, said: “Clearly, PEEK polymers are enabling innovation and advancement in numerous new areas that, hopefully, will lead to improved patient care and clinical outcomes; this strong and steady trend shows no signs of abating and new and promising applications are emerging every day. The field of spine implant design is just one example; PEEK-OPTIMA is now broadly accepted as a high-performing and versatile alternative to metallic, ceramic and other biomaterials across the spinal fusion community and is used in the development of novel motion preservation and dynamic stabilization applications,” said Callahan. “Additionally...PEEK-OPTIMA has gained acceptance in a wide range of non-spine markets including arthroscopy, dental, pharmaceutical, cardiovascular and orthopaedics.” Kuros Recruit First Patient For Tibial Shaft Fracture Study Kuros Biosurgery AG has recruited the first patient into a Phase IIb clinical trial with KUR 113, investigating the treatment of acute, open tibial shaft fractures, associated with a high incidence of complications. This investigational combination product, KUR-113, consists of a modified variant of parathyroid hormone (PTH) incorporated into a fibrin sealant. When mixed together, the bioactive and the sealant generate a fibrin composite that forms to the shape of the bone defect. KUR-113 is applied to the site of the fracture following surgical fixation with intramedullary nailing or plating. The study will compare the proportion of patients healed six months after treatment with various doses of KUR-113 as an adjunct to surgical management versus surgical management alone. Didier Cowling, CEO of Kuros, said: “We are pleased with the continuing progress we are making with our bone regeneration programmes. KUR-113 is designed to stimulate in-situ bone formation with the aim of increasing the speed of successful repair and reducing the rate of secondary interventions. We believe KUR-113 has the potential to be used as an adjunct treatment in many long bone fractures.” Stay up to date with the latest changes in personnel
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