Osteopore and Magloy Tech team up to commercialise dissolvable bone graft product
Osteopore International and Magloy Tech have partnered to commercialise their new dissolvable bone graft product. The OrthoMag is a fully degradable facial bone fixation implant. The product is the first complete bone implant solution. While its predecessors require revision surgery after healing, the OrthoMag is bioresorbable, and therefore only needs the primary implant surgery. The new solution has several benefits, reducing cost, time, and most importantly risk.
A bone graft is a surgical procedure which treats diseased or damaged bones, by transplanting bone tissue. The bone used can either come from other parts of the patient’s body, a donor, or is substituted with synthetic internal fixation implants. Currently internal fixators used for bone grafts are made from titanium or steel, meaning that they have to be surgically removed after healing. There are several risks associated with this surgery, such as pain, infections, necrosis and other complications. Unlike its predecessors, the OrthoMag does not need to be surgically removed following healing. The implant is composed of non-toxic, bioresorbable, 3D printed, magnesium plates and screws which dissolve in carbon dioxide and water. As such, the body is able to fully absorb the OrthoMag within 18-24 months.
Some of the team at Magloy Tech. Credit: NUS
Osteopore International is a medical device company based in Singapore, and a subsidiary of Australian Securities Exchanged. The company specialises in additively manufactured bioresorbable implants to assist with the natural stages of bone healing. All of Osteopore’s products are manufactured in-house using proprietary 3D printing technology. The company uses additive manufacturing as highly precise and customisable shapes and geometries are essential in parts incorporated into human anatomy. Osteopore currently have two products available: the Osteoplug, used in neurosurgery; and the Osteomesh, used in craniofacial surgery. Both are bioresorbable implants made of a polymer called PCL. The OrthoMag, however, is primarily made of magnesium- Magloy Tech’s area of expertise. The start-up, is a National University of Singapore (NUS) offshoot, which specialises in the research & development of bioresorbable magnesium implants for orthopaedics and trauma surgery. The OrthoMag is Magloy Tech’s first product.
The OrthoMag was developed in collaboration with clinical physicians specialising in orthopaedic and maxillofacial surgery as well as material scientists with expertise in magnesium alloys. The product has made new strides towards eradicating the need for implant removal surgeries. While the OrthoMag is currently limited to use in facial graft surgeries, it is symbolic of a larger paradigm shift from standard bone grafting to tissue engineering, where a scaffold is implanted to provide sufficient load-bearing support and regenerate tissue.
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