Mineral Bone Pins Designed to Help Secure Healing Fractures

By HospiMedica International staff writers
Posted on 28 Jan 2019
Novel bio-integrative bone pins aim to replace the metal fixation implants currently used in fractures, bone cuttings or removals, joint fusions, and bone grafts.

The Ossio (Caesarea, Israel) OSSIOfiber Bone Pin Family is based on Intelligent Bone Regeneration Technology, a new category of non-permanent fixation materials made of a proprietary natural mineral fiber matrix with bio-integrative properties, which provide surgeons with a biologically friendly way to restore stability and mobility while foregoing permanent metal fixation. The stiffness of OSSIOfiber is also a better mechanical match to bone, and the improved bone compliance can prevent stress risers and weakening of the bone around the implant.

Image: Bone pins could soon replace metal fixation screws and plates (Photo courtesy of Ossio).

While initially the mechanical strength of the implant is significantly higher than that of cortical bone, it gradually transfers load to the native bone following the critical rehabilitation phase. Full integration into the surrounding anatomy takes place within approximately 18-24 months, leaving only native bone behind with no residual hardware. The company intends to pursue multiple applications in the distal extremity, trauma, sports, reconstruction, pediatrics, and spine segments through the development of pins, screws, and plates.

“We look forward to partnering with surgeons throughout the United States to integrate the OSSIOfiber platform into their surgical treatment options, ultimately changing the current standard-of-care in orthopedic fixation by encouraging natural bone healing that avoids unnecessary hardware removal surgeries, and improves the overall healthcare economics of orthopedics,” said Brian Verrier, CEO of Ossio.

“OSSIOfiber Intelligent Bone Regeneration Technology has the potential to shift the paradigm in orthopedic fixation with promise for wide-ranging applications across the continuum of orthopedic surgery,” said orthopedic surgeon Stuart Miller, MD, of Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine (Baltimore, MD, USA). “An implant that maintains its strength through the known healing timeline, and is then completely integrated into the surrounding anatomy with no adverse inflammation is a real breakthrough for surgeons and the patients we treat.”

Metal implants represent the current standard of care in orthopedic fixation; however, permanent hardware creates a sub-optimal healing environment, which can lead to patient dissatisfaction and increasing healthcare costs due to post-operative complications and secondary removal surgeries. Over the course of the last few decades, there have been numerous attempts to develop fixation implants from various bio-resorbable materials, but these devices have fallen short in providing the required mechanical strength or optimal degradation profiles to avoid burst releases of acidic by-products and local inflammation.

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